The world of education is a funny place. It remains one of the last bastions of the struggle between the classes - only in this instance it is the struggle between academic and vocational. In Canberra, a decision has been ...

Academics – and particularly historians – must have stifled a laugh when they read Fred Hilmer’s prescription for a “brave new world” of university governance. (Campus Review, June 14). According to the UNSW vice-chancellor, modern university governance needs fewer elected ...

As the embryonic Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) takes form, the five standards domains – Provider, Qualifications, Teaching & Learning, Research and Information Standards – are currently works in progress. At this stage the Information Standards domain appears ...

If the Certificate III in Aged Care Work and the Certificate IV Assessor and Trainer were designed to be the cornerstones of education and skill development for workers in aged care there is a problem. My experience with these qualifications began ...

One of the exciting and challenging ways in which New Zealand and Australia has changed over the past 50 or so years has been the explosive flowering of linguistic diversity in our communities. This change has been an uneasy one ...

It’s hard to miss the story in the mass media that the Australian retail industry is in bad shape. The tales of woe are relentless: sudden increase in online purchases from overseas providers, mass closures of local bookshop chains, supermarket ...

  Here in New Zealand it has been the between-semester break for education institutions, not that educators get a break with the conference season in full swing. I get a sense that a mood for change is developing. New Zealand ...

Ethics and its essential twin subject epistemology, the philosophy of knowledge, are at the heart of good journalism writes Edward Spence. Socrates was probably the first investigative journalist. He is also one of the greatest philosophers as relevant and inspiring ...

The current patchwork system of VET regulation increases the legal complexity for RTOs trying to comply, writes Haroon Hassan. There have dramatic changes in the regulation of the VET sector over the past two years.  The well documented impacts of ...

Will VET and higher education ever agree on a definition of quality, John Mitchell asks. The VET and higher education sectors are entering an exciting but uncertain phase, as both sectors begin to focus on a previously elusive goal, defining ...