Minister to create industry council to oversee Australian VET A new industry-led advisory panel will steer the direction of reform to vocational education and training (VET), the Minister for Industry, Hon Ian Macfarlane announced at the National Skills Summit in Canberra last week. “Industry will chair the committee and they will have the majority say over decisions,” he said. “Longer term, I also want to undertake a number of sectoral studies – for example in the oil and gas industry – to determine how the VET sector can better support particular industries and the changing workforce needs.” The Minister also released the independent review of the training regulator, the Australian … [Read more...]
The Scan in June 2014 – the top ten reads
30/06/2014 by
Academic gongs - Queen's Birthday Honours List 9 June 2014 | The university sector featured strongly in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2014, particularly in the higher orders. Of the 571 civil awards this year, 107 (about 19% of the total) were to people associated with universities, which were concentrated in the first three levels (40%) as against the fourth level (4%). Women made up only 32% of recipients but that's up from 26% in the Australia list.....[ READ MORE ]…. TEQSA 'gardening leave" confirmed 13 June 2014 | It has been confirmed at Senate Estimates that chief higher education regulator Carol Nicoll has taken indefinite leave and her future is tied to legislation that … [Read more...]
ACPET National Monday Update 30 June 2014
30/06/2014 by
In Focus Our new Quality Support Team initiative kicks off tomorrow I could just have easily entitled this week's article: 'Quality, quality, quality' - because following Minister Macfarlane's key note address to the National Skills Summit last week and his release of new draft Standards for NVR RTOs, and the ASQA Process Review - it's clear that changes are coming to VET regulation. This, combined with the changes the government is attempting to make to the way TEQSA operates as a regulator, and an upcoming review of the ESOS Act mean sensible regulation might just be on its way for the sector. What do I mean by sensible regulation? Simple: for me it means less red tape for … [Read more...]
Australian Policy Online needs support
26/06/2014 by
26 June 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The online research and policy database has expanded its services to meet the needs of a growing and influential audience. And it's seeking donations to maintain its free service. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The database and alert service provides free access to the full text of research reports, papers, statistics and other resources essential for public policy development and implementation in Australia and New Zealand. Since being founded as a small project at Swinburne University of Technology in 2002, Australian Policy Online (APO) has become an essential research tool for people working in education, … [Read more...]
The Scan | #155 | 24 June 2013
24/06/2014 by
Vet funding changes confound sector 24 June 2014 | The Victorian government has announced further changes to the funding of VET courses - which it has done several times previously over the past year. The Australian Council for Private Education and Training ACPET has called on the Victorian government to rethink the latest cuts, with ACPET chief Claire Field pointing to the disruptive impact on both RTOs and intending students of the constant changes to funding arrangements. She said that the latest changes come, as previous changes have, with no notice to the sector and serve to penalise those providers who were doing the “right thing” – those who had set fees which the government … [Read more...]
VET needs some powerful friends
23/06/2014 by
24 June 2014 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Delivering the Swinburne University 2014 Chancellor’s Lecture, Business Council of Australia (BCA) chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, said reform of the vocational education and training (VET) system needs to be far-reaching, with greater Commonwealth involvement and closer links to industry. ……………………………………………………………………………………………….......…… Delivering the Swinburne University 2014 Chancellor’s Lecture, Business Council of Australia (BCA) chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, said reform of the vocational education and training (VET) system needs to be far-reaching, with greater Commonwealth involvement and closer links to … [Read more...]
