The Federal government is seeking to increase the proportion of Australians with bachelor degrees and to increase the proportion of low SES students in higher education. This will focus attention on degree completion rates for all students, including non-traditional students who have previously been reported as having lower higher education…

The complex interplay of technological advances, global demographic trends and macroeconomic forces has seen the emergence of global markets, economies, supply chains and labour markets. The use of skilled migration policy and initiatives for many countries feeling the effects of aging populations and skill shortages adds another dimension to this…

This paper meets at the crossroads of personal experience and public policy. The personal is the experience of learning as described by five TAFE students with a mental illness. The public policy context is the increased political pressure on Australia's major vocational training providers to increase workforce participation of people with mental…

In recent times, governments have introduced new policies and programs to address the needs of early school leavers. One such initiative is the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), which aims to provide a vocationally-oriented alternative to the academic senior school certificate. Since the implementation of VCAL in the Technical and…

This article explores some different ways of providing vocational qualifications, specifically for young people who do not go directly to university from school. The examples of Germany and Australia are discussed and show that historical, political, economic and social factors influence the preferred modes of training and their relative perceived…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the different ways in which the polytechnics in Auckland in New Zealand have changed their growth strategies since they were given a degree of autonomy in 1990. Since then the three institutions have followed similar, but not entirely identical strategies, which has meant that the three institutions have…

VET has an important role in providing equitable access to post-school opportunities for education and training, but is not satisfactorily discharging its responsibilities in relation to Australians with a disability. 16.7% of the working age population were estimated to have a disability in 1998, but only 4.5% of VET enrolments were students with…

In New Zealand the most important institutions that are responsible for the delivery of vocational education and training programs are the government owned and operated tertiary education institutions known as polytechnics. The New Zealand polytechnics deliver programs at the certificate, diploma and degree level. During the course of the 1990s,…

Australia is currently witnessing a melding of its various education sectors and a gradual erosion of distinctions between school, vocational education and higher education. Such developments are leading toward a "seamless web" of post-compulsory education, a goal strongly articulated by governments, bureaucrats, business and educators in recent…

The blurring of the boundary between Australian vocational education and training and higher education is leading to a reconsideration of the current structure of Australian tertiary education. This paper starts with the main overlap of the Australian tertiary education sectors, diplomas and advanced diplomas. The ambiguous treatment of these…