Jobs and Skills Australia has made its case for harmonising HE and VET, before the Australian Tertiary Education Commission has had a chance to hang up its shingle.
And JSA asserts its authority as a peak policy provider, stating it was established to advise government on “the operation” of both sectors.
JSA Commissioner Barney Glover and Special Advisor Peter Dawkins announce in a new report, “pressure has been building over the last decade to break down the barriers between VET and Higher Education – for the benefit of learners, the benefit of the industries who employ them, and for the broader benefit of society and the economy. If we get it right, these benefits will be large.”
The pitch: “tertiary harmonisation is about the strategic alignment of the VET and Higher Education sectors. It is the effective coordination and cooperation of key system actors, to enable learners to obtain the combination of skills and knowledge they need, and the ability to apply them, to be successful in the labour market”
What it isn’t: “it is not about merging or integrating VET and Higher Education. Each sector has distinctive missions and strengths that need to be nurtured. But they need to be able to work more effectively together.”
Making it happen: all stakeholders, national and state governments, unions and employers. VET and HE providers have to agree on who will do what and why. ATEC gets a specific mention, to use compacts with individual universities to, drive “cultural change” in universities. But VET has a big role, what with its strengths, “in driving skills development and growth in productivity.
Priorities:
- national agreed funding principles
- work towards a national credit transfer system
- “funding for collaboration, say nested and hybrid qualifications”
- HE and VET “move toward” national recognised and portable enabling/preparatory courses
- Commonwealth Supported Places in VET
- *JSA works with states/territories and ATEC on funding models to “put VET on a level playing field with Higher Education”
- a digital information system for students and industry
Plus the hard ones:
- a nationals skills taxonomy (JSA is already on this)
- ATEC and governments “update and finalise” “reform proposals” for the Australian Qualifications Framework. This will require need somebody with a Certificate IV in Hospital Passes and a Grad Dip in Crazy Brave – the 2019 Noonan Review of the AQF is not enacted because no one has worked out how.
But why bother?: “the increase in tertiary participation and success, projected in the Accord final report will be much more possible in a more harmonised tertiary system. It will be more feasible to achieve these ambitious targets, with a major role for the VET system in growing tertiary participation in enabling a big increase in the skilled workforce, many with diplomas, or degrees and associate degrees with nested VET qualification.”
The early reviews: Jason Clare’s is ok but not enthused; the Education Minister say JSA builds on work already underway and will respond to its recommendations “in due course.”
And Universities Australia recognises it’s members are stuck with something but isn’t going to give anything away without knowing what is in it for members. “Stronger ties with the vocational sector will pave the way for Australians to easily earn the qualifications they need,” is the response.