The Federal Government has promised to cut burdensome red tape faced by universities after it launched a new review earlier this week.

Federal Minister for Higher Education, Craig Emerson, said that the review has been launched in response to convers raised by universities over the cost of regulatory compliance and reporting.

The review will be run by Professors Kwong Lee Dow and Valerie Braithwaite.

"Australia's universities have a global reputation for providing high-quality education services," Minister Emerson said.

"This is about helping them focus on their core business of teaching the next generation of professionals while ensuring students, employers and the community can be confident about the quality of higher education."

The review will make recommendations on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency's approach to regulation in order to reduce the burden of reporting on universities.

Minister Emerson has also directed the Innovation Department to take immediate action to examine and simplify its own data collection and administrative requirements.

For more information, visit http://www.innovation.gov.au/HigherEducation/About/News/Documents/AssuringQualitywhileReducingtheHigherEducationRegulatoryBurden.pdf.