Trends in Non-academic Staff for Australian Universities 2000 to 2010
20 June 2012, by Professor Emeritus Frank Larkins
The increase since 2000 in non-academic staff directly employed by universities and their salaries have closely paralleled the increase in academic staff; however, the roles and responsibilities of some of these staff have changed significantly. On an FTE basis universities employ more non-academic staff than academic staff with a lower proportion of non-academic staff being casual employees than for their academic counterparts. Direct support for departmental teaching and administrative activities appear to have been replaced by more diverse roles for employed non-academic staff. Most universities have also increased the outsourcing of selected non-academic services. If one was able to reliably include these staff numbers, then it is expected that the total staff providing non-academic services will have grown at a faster rate than academic staff.
VET has too many qualifications and is too complex
13 June 2012, by Assoc Prof Leesa Wheelahan
In 2010, there were at least 1416 training package qualifications offered by VET providers. The median number of equivalent full-time students in these qualifications was 34. That is, half of these qualifications had fewer than 34 equivalent full-time students, and half had more than 34. This is not the median number of equivalent full-time students in each qualification in each VET provider; it is the median number in each qualification in Australia. In universities, each qualification needs to have at least 25 equivalent full-time students, or management will come hunting.