Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley says enough already to the obsession with university. RMIT is on to it, vowing “to tackle Australia’s skills shortages, with “a fundamental shift away from the outdated distinction between knowledge and skills that’s built into our current post-school education structures.”
“We have been pushing our kids to go to university. It has led to a lot of them getting degrees they don’t use, and debt they can’t afford to repay,” Ms Ley wrote last week in on-line WA paper, The Nightly.
She argues the problem starts in schools, which tell students university is where they need to be, which creates a “vocational cringe.” But degrees do not deliver the nation-building dividends; vocational education does. “We also desperately need skilled workers to build more homes, and to care for our growing and ageing population … Who is going to build our nuclear submarines, or the houses we need?” she asks.
And in a switch on the traditional argument that equates degrees with personal prosperity, she argues that skills are the smart career choice.
“Automation used to kill factory jobs, now it’s coming after copywriters, financial analysts, accountants and lawyers. In a world where Chat-GPT can pen an essay or a business plan in seconds, skills are fast becoming the most precious commodity in our economy.”
Former Employment Minister Brendan O’Connor made a similar point last year, arguing that the employment divide is not between manual and cognitive work but routine and non-routine work.
“Not only do we need skills to do jobs that didn’t previously exist – like cybersecurity – pre-existing roles – like mechanics – are barely recognisable with the ones many of us grew up with,” he told the Sydney Institute.
And Jason Clare sort-of-acknowledged Ms Ley’s case the other day, making his standard case for more people studying in both post school systems, “and that will include sometimes people doing a little bit of TAFE.” Pointing to what he hopes will emerge from the Accord, he added, “I am trying to break down the barriers between TAFE and uni to make it easier for people to move between the two.
“At the moment, we’ve got six universities that are also TAFE providers and I think we’ll see more of that.” He likely means the “full-service six,” that have voced and university functions, Charles Darwin U, CQU, Federation U, RMIT, Swinburne U and Victoria U.
RMIT is ready to go with a skills-focused system that combines employment with a five-year vocational-university course.
“We need an education system aligned with both vocational and higher education that rethinks learning and teaching models to address current and looming skills shortages – one that provides adult learners with education solutions that accommodate their need to work alongside study,” is the pitch.
The model is being trialled by all Victorian dual-sector providers with local government in Victoria.
