The future of VET qualifications
28 October 2010, by Megan Lilly
The Bradley Review of Higher Education and the subsequent emergence of the new tertiary landscape has sharpened the focus on vocational education. The review has sparked spirited debate, much of which has revolved around institutional arrangements, in particular the future role of VET/ TAFE in the broader tertiary space. This is an important debate; but a pre-occupation with structural arrangements must not be allowed to swamp the equally important conversation about the future of VET qualifications.
Targets demand and capacity – the need for a national tertiary education investment framework
28 October 2010, by Peter Noonan
If the policy intentions of Australian governments to raise participation and attainment levels in tertiary education beyond current levels are realised, in future decades hundreds of thousands more Australians will hold post-school qualifications.
The Commonwealth Government has committed a target of 40% of 25-39 year olds attaining a degree by 2025 and the Council of Australian Governments has committed to a broader goal to halve the proportion of the workforce without at least Certificate III qualification by 2020.
A weakness of these current targets is that they were developed in isolation from each other with no capacity for ongoing monitoring, or in the case of the COAG targets, any assessment of future resourcing needs.