Skills Australia has called for a new approach to workforce development that restricts planning to occupations at high risk of market failure, and ensures that acquired skills end up getting used. In a discussion paper and supporting reports released last ...

Indigenous cultural competency in the post-Bradley era: who will do the work, ask Christine Asmar and Susan Page. The participants in our research seminar were perplexed. We had just asked them to put themselves in the shoes of an academic ...

If we are to power our ideas, we need to focus on the right game, write Peter Høj and Caroline McMillen. During the past few months, Australian universities have been working hard to support the delivery of the research and ...

<<<Judging from UK experience, the new research assessment system could prove to bring few benefits but a good deal of anxiety, damage and cost, writes Jeff Lewis.>>> While most researchers in Australia would welcome an effective and well-considered process of ...

Is VET useful for people newly arrived in Australia, asks John Mitchell. A concrete benefit of state and national awards for VET providers is that it sometimes highlights unconventional training providers that are modelling outstanding practice. One such organisation is ...

<<<Stepping up to boost the participation and achievement of low SES students in higher education. By Kaye Bowman.>>> What will it take to achieve the national target of 20 per cent of all Australian students in bachelor degree programs to ...

Australia could move much closer to meeting its skills targets simply by acknowledging the accredited training provided by enterprises, according to the peak body which represents companies and government agencies with registered in-house training divisions. The Enterprise RTO Association (ERTOA) ...

At least two colleges have been closed by regulators in recent weeks, as governments seek scalps to rebuff accusations that they’ve been ineffective in enforcing regulations for international education providers. But one of these colleges may have been brought undone ...

Weasel words, deliberate obfuscation and VET-speak. John Ross tries to figure out what’s really behind a recent communiqué. It can’t be easy to get eight governments to agree on wording. Particularly if they’re not all from the same party. And ...

Having submitted his PhD thesis, Sean Perera finds parallels in the Book of the Dead. The all-consuming nature of PhD research leaves little of consequence to hold on to once the thesis is submitted. Feelings of worthlessness and lack of purpose ...