LEGISLATION for a new higher education regulator is just one item of unfinished sector business for parliament in the new year.

A bill to set up the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency was to be introduced last month but was held back after a sector revolt.

Legislation for TEQSA's counterpart in vocational education and training did reach the Senate on the last sitting day of November but senators had other priorities, chiefly the feud over the National Broadband Network.

TEQSA has a July 1, 2011, start-up date as a quality assurance agency and the national VET regulator is supposed to function from April next year.

The long-awaited bill to fund student amenities on campus did not make it to the Senate, despite the insistence of Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans that it had to pass before Christmas. Resolution of a conflict over Youth Allowance was deferred in mid-November with a Senate committee asked to revisit the definition of regional students. That committee will report in February.

Meanwhile, several key reports from the federal education department didn't see the light of day this year. Undergraduate Applications Offers and Acceptances 2010, the 2009 Finance Report and the 2009 Higher Education Report missed being published on the department website this year.

The undergraduate or unmet demand report used to be collated by Universities Australia and was published in April each year. Last year, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations took over the task, getting the information online by October. This year it didn't eventuate.

It did, however, manage to publish last year's student statistics late last month, but missing two key appendices, including one on equity data. That went up this week. This year's staff report was published on December 8.

A report on transnational education in 2008 was posted on the Australian Education International website last week. But experts said the information was so dated it bore little relevance to what was happening now.