Recognising the tension between HE and VET as they compete for attention while reporting to different Ministers, different regulators and different funders; the Accord sought to establish détente and demolish boundaries through a commitment to ‘harmonisation’.
Harmonies may have been the headline for 2025, but the realities of making the two sectors work together effectively even within a generation appear to be seeping into the latest document from the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) which aims for ‘more joined-up’ than seamlessly aligned.
ATEC yesterday released a discussion paper with a major focus on the concept making it plain that while the result may not be choir-worthy, the unharmonised but definitely more joined-up sectors are going to have to work more closely together. It’s not about if, but when and how.
“For learners, better connections between the two sectors could support greater access to tertiary education and enable wider participation and attainment. … For the economy, a more joined-up tertiary system could help better match skills with labour market needs and national priorities,” is the pitch.
The paper sets out at length issues in tertiary harmonisation where work is intended or underway, from “updating” the Australian Qualifications Framework, through ASQA-TEQSA cooperation on course-accreditation for TAFE and on to the (immensely complex) creation of a National Skills Taxonomy, (Jobs and Skills Australia is on it). And ATEC suggests there are challenges for students to find what is best for them, including a stop on valuing HE more than VET. There are also descriptions of the inter-system complexities of recognised prior learning and credit transfer.
But deep in the paper there is an essential statement of system differences that will occur to teachers: “Some critiques of competency-based training in the VET sector suggests that the focus on tasks and skills means there are limited opportunities for learners to develop critical thinking skills and understand why decisions are made, whereas for higher education, there are concerns that graduates’ theoretical knowledge is not always backed by strong employability and technical skills.”
Not to worry, ATEC is optimistic; “the VET and higher education sectors have different purposes and strengths which contribute to the overarching tertiary education system. These strengths could be drawn on through collaboration to elevate the system performance, opening new qualification models that better respond to national and regional skills needs, build graduate employability skills, and provide alternative options that could widen interest and participation.”
And so, the commission calls for a “tertiary roadmap,” that will, “set out an ambitious but achievable shared agenda to realise a more joined-up tertiary education system.”
The cartographers will be “guided by the Tertiary System Advisory Council announced by Education Minister Jason Clare, in August.
As to what is in it for universities to join-up, it is less than for voced, “work towards a more joined-up tertiary system could help lift the esteem of VET and highlight its role as a high-quality pathway to work,” ATEC explains.
This all might come as a shock to anybody who thought ATEC as “steward for the system” would mean it represented universities to government. But after the announcement last week that Mr Clare wants the Commission to consider what each university researches, there cannot be many of them left.