ABC’s 7.30 shines light on the dark failure of VET regulation

06/09/2012 By
ABC 7.30

ABC 7.30    5 September 2012 POW WOW TRAINING ADVERTISEMENT (male voiceover): "Pow Wow power. Fast track your career. A nationally recognised qualification for $49. Take advantage of the Victorian and Commonwealth funding." Susan Carty has been training students in aged care for almost two decades.  She's currently working for a reputable community college in suburban Victoria. In 2010 Carty was employed by Pow Wow as a curriculum writer. When she started she says she noticed that Pow Wow was signing off and qualifying students in aged care without any practical placements or training. She asked the company why. SUSAN CARTY, FORMER POW WOW TRAINER: He said, "Oh, we don't do … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ASQA, Uncategorized, Vocational education & training Tagged With: , ,

Much ado about the sounds of silence

06/09/2012 By
nothing-or-is-it

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The sounds of silence The Easter Monday edition of ABC’s Q&A saw Cardinal George Pell (God corner) and Professor Richard Dawkins (non-God corner) square off  (1  million viewers tuned in so odds are you did see it).  Greg Sheridan, who is obviously well versed in theology and metaphysics as well as foreign affairs,  recounted one scene:  When Dawkins explained that the universe had come from nothing, but that nothing was really very complex and, in fact, consisted of something, people laughed.  Dawkins was annoyed and, like a humourless school marm, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With:

Towards a brighter future

06/09/2012 By
Assistant principal of Tullibigeal Central, Jacqui Dillon, with Tayah Glasgow

UNSW Newsroom    4 September 2012 The youngest students ever to take part in UNSW’s ASPIRE program have travelled from remote central NSW to experience university for the first time. ASPIRE is a social inclusion initiative that actively promotes university to primary and high school students from low socio-economic backgrounds.  It has assisted several thousand students since its inception in 2007. Year 2-4 students from Tullibigeal Central School and Year 4-6 children from Ungarie Central School in the state's central west took part in a day of campus activities designed to address the additional barriers regional students face when considering higher education. Only … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community engagement, University of NSW Tagged With: , , , ,

The Scan Main Edition 6 September 2012

06/09/2012 By
Laureate

Qld skills report recommends orderly transition to VET market The Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce, established in June to advise the government on reform of the VET sector, has published an interim report dealing specifically with the Queensland TAFE sector.  In contrast to the Victorian model, the Taskforce recommends a measured and orderly transition to more market oriented VET delivery and funding.  It's not without controversy:  it recommends a radical overhaul of industrial arrangements, which draw the ire of unions, and the closure of 44 of the state's 82 TAFE campuses, which will create some community anxiety and has already been criticised by the Commonwealth … [Read more...]

Filed Under: ASQA, Coalition policies, TAFE Directors Australia, TEQSA Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

TEQSA stands its ground

06/09/2012 By
regulatory-jigsaw

The Australian   5 September 2012 TEQSA Chief Commissioner Carol Nicoll has rejected inferences coming out of the Go8 that universities are so low in risk they should be all but unregulated. Go8 chair and UNSW vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer has complained of "absurd'' and "smothering'' regulation that treats universities "like fly-by-night ventures''. Nicoll says there is "not necessarily an equivalence'' between self-accrediting status and low risk.and that TEQSA has already raised "issues'' with some unnamed universities since regulation began in January. She believed the vice-chancellors of those universities would concede that TEQSA had "engaged with TEQSA fairly and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Group of 8, Higher education policy, TEQSA Tagged With: , , ,

Laureate delays opening Adelaide uni

06/09/2012 By
Laureate

Campus Review   3 September 2012 The US-based Laureate International Universities has announced a delay in the opening of it’s Adelaide’s university, approved by the State government earlier this year,  until at least 2014. The university network’s Asia Pacific managing director, Dr Michael Mann said the reason for the delay is due to difficulty in securing an appropriate site. The Torrens building [at Victoria Square] was going to be our office but we are looking for other buildings because we need a much larger space. Laureate anticipate the university will attract up to 3000 students within a decade of opening. Initially it will deliver undergraduate and postgraduate … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Torrens University, universities Tagged With:

Student numbers rocket by 25%

06/09/2012 By
growth graph

The Australian    5 September 2012 Growth in university enrolments over the past five years has easily surpassed the increase under a decade of the Howard government, as students of all ages flock to an expanding higher education system. University enrolments snowballed by 25% between 2006 and 2011, according to an analysis of last year’s census data. The overall population grew by just 8% during this period. Enrolments had increased by just 3% over the preceding five years, with participation by mature and part-time students falling. The explosive growth exceeded the 17% increase experienced between 1991 and 1996, not long after then education minister John Dawkins opened … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Higher education policy, universities Tagged With: , , , ,
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