Neither Labor nor the Coalition has a clear set of policies for the sector, said speakers at last night’s (Wednesday 25th August) Centre for the Study of Higher Education and LH Martin Institute seminar.

According to Leesa Wheelahan, an international expert on vocational education and training (VET), neither party has considered VET’s role beyond the trades, even though only 20 per cent of VET students are studying a trade.

“The two major parties have said next to nothing about VET during the election campaign, and the Coalition in particular seems indifferent to the sector,” Associate Professor Wheelahan says. “We are in danger of all but the higher levels of VET becoming a rump. The sector needs its own Bradley-style review to establish its vision and purpose, as well as its relationships with higher education on the one hand, and schools on the other.”

Associate Professor Wheelahan also says TAFE’s vital role in helping disadvantaged students access higher level qualifications requires more recognition and public support, such as it receives in the UK and Canada.

“TAFE can’t be expected to support the needs of the most disadvantaged without public endorsement. TAFE needs public funding load. Moreover, the sector needs support to encourage higher levels of academic scholarship among staff.”

Professor of Higher Education Simon Marginson agrees there is currently a policy vacuum within the tertiary education sector. He is particularly concerned this has come at a time when universities are facing a funding crisis.

He says: “The sector is currently facing policy-induced problems, yet neither party is proposing any policies to tackle them. The $18 billion international education industry is collapsing, subsidies per local student are already $1500 below real cost (before unfunded growth is taken into account) and infrastructure funding has dried up. And yet no-one in Canberra wants to know about it, with the focus on reducing migration particularly damaging. Whichever party ends up in Government, it will have a major problem on its doorstep."

The Revolution Meets the Election: The future of Australian tertiary education was held last night (Wednesday 25 August 2010). It was the final seminar in the Realising the National Vision for Tertiary Education seminar series co-hosted by the Centre for the Study of Higher Education and the LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management.

For interview:
Simon Marginson: s.marginson@unimelb.edu.au / (03) 8344 8060
Leesa Wheelahan: leesaw@unimelb.edu.au / (03) 9035 5547