Academics have been left off the list of occupations that qualify for the general skilled migration program. The new occupational target list for general skilled migration might guarantee universities a source of income, with accountants a surprise inclusion. But it’s ...
More »Performance funding tug-of-war
It’s the small private VET providers who’ve attracted most concern around quality, but they’ve been sidelined from the government’s new quality initiatives. The VET community is universally delighted with the federal government’s budget pledge to directly fund VET providers for ...
More »Audits at war
A Victorian TAFE chief is experiencing “audit fatigue”, with an average of three external audits a fortnight – some of which produce contradictory recommendations. Excessive and sometimes conflicting audits are making life hard for TAFEs trying to straddle the VET-higher ...
More »Trades back in the frame, as GFC gives way to giddy-up
Trades are back on skilled immigration’s hit-list – and it could be good news for traditional trainers. Trades make up over a quarter of the immigration department’s new list for skilled migration, signalling a possible resurgence of enrolments in the ...
More »The PPP endgame: who can kill it first
The opposition will kill the PPP as part of its $47 billion budget saving strategy. But there’s a problem: the government’s already killed it. A Coalition government would save taxpayers more than $1 billion by canning the Productivity Places Program ...
More »Uni bean counters happy, as international bean counters get the nod
It might be goodbye to cooks and hairdressers. But it’s a big hello, once again, to accountants. Accountants are the surprise inclusion in the new hit list for general skilled migration (GSM), with all three occupational categories of the profession ...
More »Canberra’s new experiment: the omniversity
UC’s Stephen Parker is putting his money where his mouth is, with work under way to establish Canberra’s own university system. The University of Canberra is going it alone in establishing its own university system – tentatively known as an ...
More »VET the big winner?
Skills scored the headlines in a budget that forgot universities. But what did VET really get out of it? The federal government will extend a Victorian-style training guarantee across the country, directly fund the biggest 100 VET providers, and introduce ...
More »Piecemeal pathways
It’s dangerous to go full steam ahead into a new tertiary sector without a roadmap, vice-chancellors have told Victorian TAFE bosses A second and even a third Bradley review may be needed to sort out the chaos emerging from the ...
More »PPP’s budget swansong
Time’s running out for the PPP, but there are question marks over its replacement. The government has tacitly acknowledged criticisms of its flagship VET program, the Productivity Places Program (PPP), cutting it short by at least two years and ripping ...
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