Which providers will dominate VET in future, asks John Mitchell. What is the ideal size for a VET provider? This question springs to mind after one vice-chancellor recently called for the creation of large polytechnics to offer vocational certificates and ...
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VET middle managers work for and against reform
Frontline managers in the VET sector have been found to conform to reform processes while simultaneously opposing them, according to an award-winning thesis. Dr Annette Foley, a lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Ballarat, spent six ...
More »Universities, TAFEs and polytechnics
Is there a role for enhanced TAFEs to help achieve the government’s social inclusion targets, asks Meeuwis Boelen. Professor Stephen Parker, vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, has recently speculated in the media on the capacity, or otherwise, of Australian ...
More »It’s not just agents – consultants need a close eye too
Australia needs to raise the bar for new colleges seeking accreditation to train international students, and it can do this by closely monitoring the consultants that advise them, according to the head of Australia’s multi-state VET regulator. accountant. It usually ...
More »Lessons in skills development
While Australia is becoming increasingly sophisticated in its approaches to workforce skills development, Scotland holds some salient clues to dealing with one of the more entrenched issues of workforce development. Ewart Keep, professor of social sciences at the University of ...
More »International briefs
Major textbook publisher to rent not sell One of the US’s largest textbook publishers announced this month that it would start renting books to students at 40 per cent to 70 per cent of the sale price, reports the New York ...
More »Professor Punt
Checked mate 27
Unmet demand snaps back, as stuttering economy stirs demand
Demand for higher education has risen sharply, and availability of places has failed to keep pace, as the economic downturn sent a tremor through this year’s applications, offers and acceptances data. Applications have rebounded this year, jumping more than 5 ...
More »Finding a meaningful response to standards
Any attempts to develop a framework for academic achievement standards are doomed to failure because of the wide variety of academic and professional cultures across universities, according to a University of Oxford expert. Professor Gordon Stanley, who is the Pearson ...
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