Around seven out of ten students fail to complete their VET courses, but should we be worried? Completion rates have been a key indicator in the VET sector, but more honoured in theory than practice because their calculation is problematic. ...

Australia is a world leader in considering access and quality issues in widening access to higher education Last month, the OECD hosted the Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) General Conference, titled Attaining and Sustaining Mass Higher Education. The conference ...

TAFE NSW’s new managing director, Pam Christie, discusses the impact of the NSW government’s Smart and Skilled reforms. What is the significance of the government’s decision to create the role of TAFE managing director? This is an important milestone as ...

The expansion of the tertiary education system is showing positive results for disadvantaged students but there is concern about the VET sector. There are many education routes for students to follow with some showing dramatically better success rates than others. ...

A botched attempt at a small increase in school class sizes has drawn attention away from the growing problem of teacher development. We have been through interesting times over here in New Zealand. It all started about six weeks ago ...

The tough reformer promises to tackle the big issues in a review of vocational education and training standards.  A former federal education minister, John Dawkins, intends to sharpen the teeth of the Australian Skills Quality Authority and says a review ...

Our regular columnist Dr John Mitchell interviews one of the more divisive people in Australian tertiary education this week, former federal education minister John Dawkins. In the late 1990s, Dawkins revolutionised the sector. He abolished the “binary system” that distinguished ...

The Productivity Commission report into vocational education and training has flaws in some very important areas, writes John Mitchell. The current damage being inflicted on the VET system in Victoria is no surprise to those who have observed related attacks ...

 New Zealand’s struggles with tertiary reform may provide some guidance for its neighbour across the ditch. By Stuart Middleton.  From this side of the Tasman, the weekly soap opera that appears to be TAFE in Australia makes interesting reading. We ...

TAFE staff across Victoria are staging a rolling series of protests against the Victorian government’s plan to slash nearly $300 million from public providers. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has called on Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu to reverse the ...