Why cumbersome training packages need radical surgery not band-aids. By John Mitchell. New ideas are often destabilising and uncomfortable, so we humans tend to find ways to pay them lip service, while quietly continuing on with the old ways. Possibly ...

Gavin Moodie considers the implications of the final report of the review of Australian higher education for the future of work in vocational education and training. The final report of the review of Australian higher education is as contentious for ...

Vocational qualifications may not produce the same career and financial benefits as degrees, according to the latest longitudinal study from the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER – see **link to ACER story**). But the latest student outcome survey shows ...

Why VET’s mission should not be forgotten in the Bradley debate. Despite concerns in some quarters that the Bradley review of higher education would recommend the carve-up of VET in order to rectify student shortages in universities, the final report ...

The notion that redesigning training packages is the answer to VET’s woes is simplistic and unrealistic, says Jeanette Allen. The National Quality Council should tackle the reform of training package (CR, 20.01.09), but too much of the thinking within the ...

While a nod may still only be as good as a wink to a blind horse, VET insiders with even half an eye to the recent public comments of influential policymakers should have a strategic advantage over their more myopic ...

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) outlined future VET funding arrangements during its last meeting of the year, with the Commonwealth, states and territories signing off on a $6.7 billion national skills and workforce development agreement to replace specific purpose ...

Are lasting provider-enterprise partnerships based on low prices or mutual respect?   The following story was told at a recent national forum. It is about an award-winning private training provider in the retail industry and how it is effectively delivering ...

Employers are not natural-born exploiters of young people, says Erica Smith.   In a recent Campus Review (25.11.08), Mark Cully from the NCVER wrote an article about low pay and traineeships. He began by describing an imaginary scenario where an ...

Southbank Institute of Technology in central Brisbane is restructuring its workforce, amid claims the newly corporatised institute has converted a $1 million-plus operating surplus into a $6 million deficit in just four months. The reports raise a question mark over ...