Streamlining the vocational qualification development process in Australia is a current priority of the skills ministers of both the Australian Government and state and territory governments. This research summary explores the development processes associated with vocational qualifications in selected countries and compares them with the current…

This occasional paper provides the views of 17 "thought leaders" in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector. Their insight and opinions were sought to inform a larger research project focused on the student entitlement reforms that were introduced into the national VET system from 2012. These individuals offered a…

This research overview summarizes the work undertaken by Kaye Bowman and Suzy McKenna in exploring jurisdictional approaches to the implementation of student entitlements to vocational skills training, a key reform initiative in the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform (NPASR) of 2012-16. The overview is a condensed summary of three…

This report provides a summary of data relating to students, programs, training providers and funding in Australia's government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system (broadly defined as all activity delivered by government providers and government-funded activity delivered by community education and private training providers). The…

This article draws on research undertaken with a Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN) in the state of Victoria, Australia. LLEN are networks that were implemented by the state government in 2001 to undertake community capacity building through which the outcomes of young people aged 15-19 in education, training and employment would be…

In a period of student loan scandals and U.S. financial market instability impacting on the cost and availability of student loans, this paper looks at alternative models of higher education funding. In this context, it also considers the level of financial support that the government should provide to higher education.

This paper focuses on issues which affect the capability of technical and further education (TAFE) providers to meet their clients' and stakeholders' needs and draws extensively on the reports of the consortium research program which examined ways to help build vocational education and training (VET) provider and workforce capability. The paper…

These three papers outline the technological issues confronting the Department of Technical and Further Education (TAFE). The first paper describes the technological dimensions of the Department of TAFE. It establishes the role of technology within the department and the four avenues through which the department influences the technological future…

Reports findings from an ethnographic study of educational restructuring at an institute of technical and further education in Australia. Documents Australian governments' adoption of hyperrational educational-improvement strategies by reworking institutional roles framing daily practices. Countersteering geared to other values and priorities…

Recent policy changes and conflicts within Australian higher education hold some lessons for other countries. States are encouraged to take an active and early role in planning to avoid confusion, especially by beginning planning before budget cuts are taken. (MSE)

The Australian colleges of advanced education have been developed since the mid-1960's mainly on the initiative of the federal government to create a separate sector of higher education parallel to the universities. They illustrate "academic drift," a process whereby non-university institutions aspire to become more like universities,…

The postsecondary education policymaking process in Australia, rather than being goal-oriented and rational, is a series of adjustments to existing policy dictated by political expediency, often over many years and changes of government and leading to decisions reflecting unstable origins. This committee's broad influences illustrate this process.…

This paper briefly reviews the changing circumstances of Australian tertiary education, describes 10 areas of potential and current Australian activities in videotex, and explains how the lack of popular access to a public videotex system like Viatel, together with the lack of a coordinating body equivalent to the British Council for Educational…

This report reviews the participation of immigrant groups in Australian post-compulsory education. The report is divided into two main sections. The first reviews schools and higher education. Focus is placed on governmental funding provisions and policies and their impact on participation rate. The second section reviews migrant participation in…

This paper examines the relationship between constitutional courts and educational policy in Australia, the United States, and West Germany in an attempt to formulate a statement describing the relative impact of state and federal governments on educational policy in countries with a federal system of government. Much of the paper discusses the…