Private providers at the big table

Private educators still hanker for the same respect as those in the public system, but they have arguably gained a lot of ground since 1992. That’s the year governments recognised the value of a market-based approach to vocational education and training with the passing of the Australian National Training Authority Act. It’s also the year the sector started its own peak body, the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET). Last week marked ACPET’s 20th anniversary. Chief executive Claire Field reflected on various milestones in the organisation’s history and its growing importance in a rapidly evolving education system. “Our role has really changed from barely being on people’s radar, to becoming a member organisation that governments and others invited to the table because we represented part of the sector, to now being invited to the table because people recognise we’ve actually got insights that will help them make better policy decisions,” Field told Campus Review. ACPET celebrated its 20 years with a two-day higher education forum in Sydney. The agenda was similar to the issues typically discussed at annual conferences held by Australian universities. Among other topics, delegates delved into opportunities in India and China and how the Knight review changes are expected to impact the sector. The key event was a half-day symposium on Friday about how well educators were meeting the needs of employers. Also like the public arena, Field said private universities were absorbing the implications of the new demand-driven system and would fight for the rights of their domestic and international students. “This isn’t an anti-university issue,” she said. “The higher education sector ought to be able to offer a range of opportunities to learners, and students ought not to be disadvantaged for taking one choice when they’re enrolling in degree-level courses merely because of who owns the institution.” She said she was encouraged that to date, private higher education student numbers were holding steady.In the domestic VET sector, Field said equal status with TAFE was close to being realised. “We’ll look back and see 2012 as a landmark year, and that’s because it signals a real commitment from governments right across the country to move away from looking at RTOs based on public versus private to this year, with the skills reforms that are coming down, starting to finally look at providers based on their track record,” she said. However, she did not shun from the reality that VET was yet to fully recover from recent setbacks, repeating the idea that it had been let down by unscrupulous providers in a poorly regulated market. “Unfortunately, there have been operators who’ve been allowed to trade who’ve really damaged the reputation of the really great players who’ve been around for a long time and have done fantastic things,” Field said. “They’ve been lumped into this, old ‘private sector equals bad’ because of one or two rotten apples.” To help counteract the damage, ACPET last year set new standards for membership and issued letters outlining serious concerns to 35 of its approximately 1100 members. “Of those members we put under scrutiny, most came back and were able to offer reasonable explanations, but five chose not to renew their ACPET memberships,” Field said. Which is fine by her. She said ACPET’s vision for the future was to represent only the best in the sector, which would undoubtedly mean a natural trimming of its membership. “Last year we put in place the fundamentals for at least the next decade. There’s been a clear shift by the ACPET board, responding to the request of the membership,” Field said. “We’ve been doing a lot of work on lifting the quality bar. Over the next 10 years, there will be more emphasis on professional development, quality initiatives, mentoring, and expert support for our members. We’re doing a lot of benchmarking and making a lot of benchmarking tools available to help our members lift performance and grow and diversify their businesses.” All of which is expected to bring private education closer to the level playing field it seeks.

Private providers at the big table

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Head of Teaching & Learning | NAISDA

Australian Signals Directorate

Assistant Professor in Real Estate / Sustainability / Technology

Director of Research Centre for Resources Engineering towards Carbon Neutrality

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