The government’s response to the international student situation is just lukewarm, write Bruce Mackenzie and Virginia Simmons. Much has been said and written in recent weeks about unscrupulous training providers and migration agents who exploit young hopefuls from overseas. But ...

The proportion of 15 to 19 year-old Australians who aren’t involved in employment, education or training is high by international standards, according to a new study for the Australian Social Inclusion Board. But the rate of disengaged 20 to 24 ...

What models from the Australian technical colleges can infiltrate TAFE, asks John Mitchell. After they were announced unexpectedly in 2006, Australian technical colleges polarised opinion in the VET sector. Some people railed against them as the worst idea imaginable, while ...

EIF grants for community-based VET The federal government last week announced 150 grants totalling $96 million to community-based training projects as the final instalment from the Teaching and Learning Capital Fund for Vocational Education (TLCF) announced last December. Grants ranging ...

Universities and TAFEs are too focused on creating complex mechanisms to achieve pathways between VET and higher education, last month’s tertiary sector roundtable was told. The meeting, designed to inform the policy debate on the emerging tertiary education sector, heard ...

If TAFE is to contribute to meeting government targets for higher education, it needs support to develop academic, disciplinary and institutional cultures, says Leesa Wheelahan. Australia, like other Anglophone countries, is on the cusp of its third major expansion of ...

Are TAFE colleges capable of maintaining quality while taking risks, asks John Mitchell. TAFE colleges are receiving mixed messages from their government owners. One message is to ensure their quality systems are in place, their student satisfaction ratings are high ...

The philosophy toward embedding language, literacy and numeracy in training packages needs to be re-examined, says Anita Roberts. Built-in not bolted-on aimed to integrate the delivery of vocational and LLN skills based on recognition of the interdependent nature of these ...

Rudd to create 20,000 green training places Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week announced spending of $94 million to create 30,000 training places to develop “green skills” in the building and construction sectors, 10,000 places in a National Green Jobs ...

Apprentices and trainees in the trades are taken significantly less time to complete their training than a decade ago. But attrition rates are still running at nearly 50 per cent and haven’t budged despite massive federal government investments. So it’s ...