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In 2012, the Australian Government lifted previously imposed limits on the funding of bachelor-degree students at public universities. This new system was called ‘demand driven’ because it allowed universities to respond to student demand and allowed more students to benefit from higher education. On 12 November 2013 the Minister for Education appointed a review panel to look at and make recommendations in relation to the demand driven funding arrangements. The panel looked at the impacts of the demand driven system and whether it is increasing participation, improving access to students from poorer backgrounds and rural and regional areas, and meeting the skill needs of the economy. It explored whether there were any adverse impacts on quality and considered the long term sustainability of the system.

The report found that public universities have responded well to changes under the demand driven system and improved access for all students. It found the new system has allowed universities to be more responsive to student needs, driven innovation and lifted quality. The reviewers made 19 findings and 17 recommendations, including extending the demand driven system to diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degrees, and to private universities and non-university higher education providers such as TAFEs. The reviewers believe that extending the demand driven system will expand opportunities for students, and lead to further innovation in courses and modes of delivery, and in the quality of teaching and graduates.

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In a changing global economy, Australian firms face many challenges and new opportunities. This plan will help firms meet these challenges head on and take full advantage of opportunities to grow and create new jobs. This will ensure all Australians have the chance to work in more rewarding and high-skilled jobs now and in the future. The plan sets out: what can be done now to get more work for Australian firms; what must be done to ensure that Australian businesses have greater opportunities to win work abroad including in the Asia-Pacific region; and what should be done to ensure that the high skill jobs of the future can be created.

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This review of Australia's educational policy, undertaken in 1976, focused on the education and training needs of, and provision for, young people entering working life. It was carried out as part of the program of OECD's Education Committee. The review focused on the following nine issues: (1) possible divergences between the specific objectives of education as perceived by people within education and those perceived by society at large; (2) the possibility of organisational and administrative defects which might prevent the education system from fulfilling its desired social role; (3) the after effects of the massive expansion of tertiary education in the late 1960s and early 1970s; (4) the effects of the present economic recession and the associated high level of unemployment; (5) possible worsening structural imbalances in the labour market of a secular nature; (6) the effects of earlier high immigration which may have led employers to neglect problems of labour supply; (7) possible inadequacies and distortions in the flow of information about the employment situation to young people in educational institutions; (8) the possibility that special difficulties are experienced on leaving school by particular groups such as Aborigines, recent migrants and some groups of females; and (9) possible changes in cultural and social attitudes that may have resulted in a widening of any generation gap. The report is presented in two parts: the main report, which is presented in part one, and a record of the review meeting where questions relating to the issues covered in the report were put to an official Australian delegation.

This report is complemented by a background report, 'Educational policy and planning: transition from school to work or further study' (indexed at TD/TNC 86.220). Show less

In 1988, the then Minister for Employment, Education and Training, the Hon J. S. Dawkins, released a discussion paper, 'Industry training and Australia: the need for change' (indexed at TD/LMR 85.664). The aim of this paper was to provoke debate on measures both to improve the quality of training and to increase the amount of training being undertaken. The Employment and Skills Formation Council (ESFC) of the National Board of Employment, Education and Training (NBEET) was charged with providing an interim report by 5 May 1989 on the outcomes of the consultations to date.

This interim report aims to both summarise the views expressed during the consultation process and highlight the reforms which ESFC believes are required in the training system. The structure of the report is as follows. Chapter two provides a summary of the discussion paper and establishes the context in which the report was written. This includes a discussion of the pressures necessitating reform of the training system. Chapter three summarises the main issues as expressed in the written submissions and discussions, and assesses recent developments in industry training. Chapter four presents ESFC's advice on the direction of future reforms. Issues discussed include measures to improve the quality and responsiveness of the education and training system, measures to improve access to training for women and disadvantaged groups and the funding of an expanded and improved training system. Conclusions are presented in the final chapter.

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This examination of labour and employment policy in Australia was undertaken by the OECD at the request of the Australian Government. It is part of a series of country reviews designed to provide an opportunity for all OECD countries to benefit from each other's experience in this field. The examiners visited Australia in 1973 to discuss policy formulation around aspects identified as important by the Australian Government. The report is structured around these major areas: country background; forces confronting Australia in a world of change; labour utilisation in the context of economic growth; and a selected approach to Australian problems related to labour and industrial relations policies. A background paper, prepared by the then Commonwealth Department of Labour, was prepared to inform this discussion. Show less

This document, often referred to as the West Review or the West Report, is the final report of the Higher Education Financing and Policy Review Committee (Roderick West, Chair) which was appointed to review Australia’s higher education system in order to develop a policy and financing framework to enable the sector to meet the nation’s social and economic needs for the next two decades. While the focus of the report is on the traditional higher education sector, attention is paid to the need to ensure that the interfaces between the higher education sector and the vocational education and training (VET) sector were maintained. The importance of ease of movement between the higher education and VET sectors is emphasised and in the longer term, the Review Committee considers that the higher education and VET sectors should be seen as parts of a broader postsecondary education system. Show less

TAFE Futures is a national inquiry into the future of the public TAFE system. The Inquiry was commissioned by the Australian Education Union (AEU) in 2006 to determine how TAFE can best operate in the future to ensure it is meeting the skills and education needs of its students, employers and local communities. The key findings of the Inquiry include: TAFE is working well with students and employers, indicating high levels of satisfaction at the service provided; two-thirds of employers want training done through TAFE; the federal government remains largely hostile to TAFE, continuing to favour policy responses to skills shortages that marginalise TAFE and providing funding opportunities that favour private providers; courses and services are being cut due to lack of funds; significant re-thinking is required about some of the national directions for training packages and the application of aspects of competency-based training; fees and charges are a barrier to the participation of many in the community who need general education and training; the TAFE workforce is one of the most casualised in the economy and these high levels of casualisation are counterproductive in maintaining a quality and accessible provider; and the squeeze on resources has eroded TAFE's commitment to access, equity and social justice. The contents are: The TAFE Futures Inquiry: a dialogue about the future with those who make TAFE work; Part A: The TAFE story and the challenges of continuity and change; Part B: What Australians say about TAFE: a summary of national consultations; Part C: What Australians say about TAFE: a summary of submissions; Part D: New futures for TAFE: renewal and change. Included as appendices are: Current research on partnerships in VET and TAFE: opportunities for the future of TAFE; Terms of reference for the TAFE Future Inquiry; Bibliography. Show less

At a fundamental level, the role of tertiary education is increasingly being questioned, revealing deep uncertainty about its broader purpose and value. The authors of this volume suggest that the impetus for a rethinking of many of the traditional features of the tertiary education system in Australia is already present, with concerns for, among other things, the transparency of information for prospective students, student retention and outcomes under the demand-driven policy settings, the lack of research-industry engagement, and the overall value of tertiary education to the economy and society. The volume begins with a broad-brush overview of the current tertiary sector and the issues it is facing. The chapters then offer ideas for transforming Australian tertiary education. Each is grounded in current issues or trends but goes beyond present thinking to propose ways in which policy and practice might make major advances. The volume has been purposefully framed around tertiary education, rather than higher education, since a key decision for policy makers is how best to resolve current funding and regulatory anomalies created by the inefficiencies and complexities of the current system architecture.

The contents are as follows: Foreword / Richard James and Leo Goedegebuure; Futures for Australian tertiary education: developing an integrated, coherent policy vision / Sarah French, Paula Kelly and Richard James; A framework for differentiation / Leo Goedegebuure, Vin Massaro, Lynn Meek and Alan Pettigrew; Funding an expanded tertiary system: designing a coherent financing architecture / Gwilym Croucher, Jonathan Chew and Peter Noonan; Organising, leading and managing 21st century universities / Geoff Sharrock; To what degree?: alternative micro-credentialing in a digital age / Sandra Milligan and Gregor Kennedy; Engaging university teachers in design thinking / Kristine Elliott and Jason M. Lodge; Analytics of what?: negotiating the seduction of big data and learning analytics / Gregor Kennedy, Linda Corrin and Paula de Barba; Advancing equity in the Australian higher education system / Matthew Brett and Andrew Harvey; Universities and the evolving graduate labour market / Andrew Norton; Standards and quality in Australian higher education / Pip Pattison; Vocational education and the innovation agenda: towards the creation of effective innovation eco-systems / Leo Goedegebuure and Ruth Schubert; Internationalisation of Australian higher education: where for from here? / Douglas Proctor and Sophie Arkoudis; Redesigning the higher education workforce: a new architecture / Elizabeth Bare and Emmaline Bexley.

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On 3 December 1973, the Australian Government appointed the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Training, chaired by Donald Cochrane. The Committee was asked to report to the Minister of Labour as quickly as possibly on the following: (1) the role that training should play in an active labour policy; (2) the extent to which opportunities for training and retraining should be provided or improved; (3) the broad methods of training and retraining that should be used; (4) the methods of selecting prospective trainees and allocating trainees to prospective employers; (5) the rationalisation of existing schemes of training and retraining; and (6) the level of allowances that should be paid to trainees and the questions of taxation in relation to such allowances.

Reporting in May 1974, the committee's recommendations were for the introduction of procedures for collecting labour market information and rationalisation of labour market training through the establishment of one comprehensive labour market training scheme. It also proposed the introduction of group apprenticeship schemes, the development of measures to overcome the restrictions preventing the access of adults to the skilled trades and the optimisation of use of the facilities of existing educational institutions.

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In 2012 the Commonwealth and states and territories committed to a National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform (NP) [indexed at TD/TNC 108.1569]. The agreement set out the goals and structures of intergovernmental [vocational education and training] VET funding and reform for the period 2012-13 to 2016-17. The NP was created in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Federal Financial Relations (IGA-FFR), and is directed to achieving the reform directions agreed under the National Agreement on Skills and Workforce Development (NASWD). The NP has the objective of a 'VET system that delivers a productive and highly skilled workforce which contributes to Australia's economic future, and to enable all working age Australians to develop the skills and qualifications needed to participate effectively in the labour market'. This review of the NP has been commissioned as called for by the agreement itself.

The review has examined 'progress of the structural reforms and training outcomes', noting that the jurisdictionally flexible reforms have differed across the states and territories and are at different stages of implementation. While the review has considered progress within individual states and territories, its focus has remained on progress at the national level. To inform future VET policy, the review has identified examples of good practice across different aspects of the training system and has considered and made recommendations on future objectives, outcomes and outputs that could form the basis of any future Commonwealth-state agreements. The report first addresses the specific outcomes of the NP, then considers good practice and future reform.

The chapters are as follows: Overview of the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform; An accessible and equitable training system (Outcome 1); A more transparent VET sector (Outcome 2); A higher quality VET sector (Outcome 3); A more efficient and responsive VET sector (Outcome 4); National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform VET training outcomes; Recommendations for future Commonwealth-state agreements. The appendices provide greater detail on jurisdictional training outcomes and the background to the review.

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