Victim of "efficiency" and competition measures TDA News | 5 April 2016 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… A COAG-commissioned review of Australia's landmark, five-year plan for skills has found that critical community and educational elements of TAFE have been eroded. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The review of the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform (NPA) was undertaken by ACIL Allan Consulting last December and presented to the Council of Australian Governments on 1 April. It reveals the extent to which so-called competition and efficiency reforms have been pursued at the expense of downgrading TAFE. The review clearly states that the NPA was intended … [Read more...]
Election 2016: Higher education and VET issues
20/03/2016 by
News items, statements, analysis and commentary The election outcome There's really not much to say, is there? TDA summed it up from a tertiary education perspective, saying the uncertainty of the vote itself is compounded by a curious lack of policy commitment from the Coalition, which did not release any skills policy or higher education policy during the campaign.....[ READ MORE ].... Labor Of its "100 positive policies", about 20% (19 to be precise) are in tertiary education. In higher education, Labor has committed to maintaining the demand driven system, backed up by a Student Funding Guarantee to provide "certainty to universities and remove the … [Read more...]
The Scan #176 16 December 2015
16/12/2015 by
News __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rebalancing Victorian VET 16 December 2015 | The Victorian government has released the Final Report of The VET Funding Review (Mackenzie Report). It’s a weighty document, both literally and figuratively, running to 173 pages and 109 recommendations. Skills minister Steve Herbert says the government accepts the “general thrust” of the report and its recommendations. It will take the next year to work through design and implementation issues and to consult with stakeholders ahead of the introduction of a new funding model in 2017. Certain … [Read more...]
Reforming vocational education: it’s time to end the exploitation of vulnerable people
16/12/2015 by
The case for REAL reform Republished 16 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… It's hard to argue with the proposition that Australia’s vocational education sector is a mess. Mary Leahy (University of Melbourne) writes that tightening regulation and tweaking some of the settings will contain the damage, but these measures alone will not address deeper problems in the sector. Real, sustained improvement requires rethinking the funding and regulatory models but also the purpose and idea of vocational education. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… How the business model works There is clear evidence of rorting and rent-seeking in the vocational education … [Read more...]
Rebalancing VET in Victoria
16/12/2015 by
Review proposes "a more managed,sustainable training system" 16 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… The Victorian government has released the Final Report of The VET Funding Review (Mackenzie Report). It’s a weighty document, both literally and figuratively, running to 173 pages and 109 recommendations. Skills minister Steve Herbert says the government accepts the “general thrust” of the report and its recommendations. It will take the next year to work through design and implementation issues and to consult with stakeholders ahead of the introduction of a new funding model in 2017. Certain matters, however, are given, such as restoring the public provider network … [Read more...]
“Further work” needed on COAG VET reforms
14/12/2015 by
VET funding a “race to the bottom”, NSW skills minister says TDA News | 14 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, state premiers and chief ministers have agreed to more closely review reforms and regulation, which had begun under the original COAG National Partnership Agreement on skills - initially created in April 2012 under Prime Minister Julia Gillard. …………………………………………………………………………………….......…… The COAG meeting in Sydney on 11 December 2015 agreed that “further work will be undertaken on options to reform vocational education and training, for initial consideration at COAG’s first meeting in 2016, recognising that skills … [Read more...]
The Scan #175 11 December 2015
11/12/2015 by
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ News __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VET FEE-HELP skewering system 11 December 2015 | Explosive growth in the VET FEE-HELP scheme has masked massive direct public disinvestment in vocational education and training. While a report by NCVER shows a notional growth of 1.7% in 2014 over 2013 (plus $141.0 million, from $8512.4 million to $8653.4 million), it’s all in VET-FEE Help payments: actual direct expenditure by governments, … [Read more...]
VET FEE-HELP “skewing” system
11/12/2015 by
Direct public expenditure on VET dropping The Australian | 10 December 2015 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Explosive growth in the VET FEE-HELP scheme has masked massive direct public disinvestment in vocational education and training. While a report by NCVER shows a notional growth of 1.7% in 2014 over 2013 (plus $141.0 million, from $8512.4 million to $8653.4 million), it’s all in VET-FEE Help payments: actual direct expenditure by governments, including the Commonwealth declined markedly VET FEE-HELP. VET funding through state and territory governments fell almost $320m, while fee-for-service revenue — largely contributed by businesses — fell more than $130m. … [Read more...]
Maddock steps down
02/12/2013 by
2 December 2013 John Maddock, chief executive of Box Hill Institute in Melbourne has announced he will step down from the role at the conclusion of his contract on 7 December. After 14 years as chief executive, Maddock informed staff on 29 November that with senior executive roles needing to be filled, and the Institute’s new five year Plan soon to begin, it was time to “rejuvenate” and he had decided to step down. He paid tribute to Box Hill staff and students, and their work which contributed to the emergence of Box Hill as one of Australia’s most successful TAFEs in student course offerings, launch of higher education qualifications including a Masters degree, and extensive … [Read more...]
Catch Up
27/11/2013 by
TAFEs claim funding cuts will cost jobs and millions The Age | 23 November 2013 Victorian TAFEs expect to lose millions of dollars and the education union is forecasting hundreds of redundancies in response to further Victorian state government changes to course subsidies. But the government insists it has not cut overall funding and is moving to stop rorting in the training sector. Kangan Institute chief executive Grant Sutherland told staff in an email the changes would result in an estimated $9.2 million reduction in revenue for next year. This is clearly a substantial reduction and budgets across the institute are currently being reworked to take into account this … [Read more...]