The Victorian decision not to agree to a national regulator for VET reeks of political incompetence, writes Paul Rodan. It was depressing to read that Victoria and Western Australia were holding out against the establishment of a national vocational education ...
More »Rapid audit for the PPP
A fast-tracked review will consider whether the federal government’s flagship VET program meets current economic demands. A formal review of the federal government’s flagship VET program, the Productivity Places Program (PPP), will be fast-tracked after the country’s education and training ...
More »Swan’s stimulus success story: skills
Skills – not schools – are the “overlooked” beneficiaries of the stimulus packages, according to Treasurer Wayne Swan. Most pundits might point to the avoidance of technical recession, the lower than expected unemployment rates, the survival of the banks or ...
More »One tertiary sector over-simplified
Does a tertiary sector simply mean a one-way flow of VET students to universities, asks John Mitchell. Almost a year after the release of the Bradley report, the public discussion of a single tertiary sector often seems to default to ...
More »VET briefs
Four Queensland TAFEs recognised The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) has given one of its three awards for best practice or innovation in international education to four Queensland TAFE institutes. The four institutes were Central Queensland, Gold Coast, Southbank ...
More »The broader benefits of international students
Two recent reports have emphasised the non-economic benefits of international students, writes Glyn Davis. Too often the conversation around international students focuses on their financial contribution to universities and to the coffers of state and federal governments. Of course the ...
More »National VET regulator: Victoria, WA spoil the party
Victoria and WA have fallen out with the other states and territories over the establishment of a national VET regulator. Victoria and Western Australia emerged as the spoilers over an independent national VET regulator at last Friday’s Ministerial Council for ...
More »Falling through the cracks
Increased migration processing times are leaving international graduates in limbo, writes Shanthi Robertson. The uneasy relationship between international education and skilled migration has been further strained by new delays to the processing of many applications for skilled migration. In September, ...
More »Disciplines setting standards
The ALTC is perfectly placed to develop standards with the disciplines, writes Jacqui Elson-Green. Academic standards have been a concern of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council since its inception in 2005. Since that time the ALTC has invested in ...
More »How open is online education?
Adam Shoemaker considers access and invention in the online academy. Higher education is full of paradoxes. One of the most prominent of these is the gulf between experiential learning and opinion formation. For example, nearly every academic in Australia has ...
More »