Review - Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research

Systems
The characteristics of these quality assurance systems will obviously be influenced by the
characteristics of the VET systems. The systems can be relatively integrated as in the case of
Australia, or highly dispersed as in the case of the USA or Canada.
Broadly, a coherent and effective VET quality assurance system requires:
• Clarity and consensus about the location of the authority for quality assurance. Location is
typically with:
o
o
o
o
Industry or occupational communities. These communities can be strongly organised,
as in the case of the German industry chambers, or weakly organised as in the case of
Australia where formal organisation has often depended on state sponsorship such as
state-established and supported industry training councils. Industry authority is
typically needed to endorse the relevance and standard of VET programs and
qualifications.
Government. Governments tend to play a role of an objective guarantor of the probity
of quality processes, including assessments and awarding. They will typically use
industry and provider participants as a means of ensuring the relevance of program
and qualifications content and the appropriateness of assessment and awarding
processes.
Providers. Major providers of VET are likely to seek to protect their market brand
through internal quality assurance mechanisms. The principle of ‘self regulation’ is
(or has been) strong in liberal market economies and governments have attempted to
build cultures of industry self-regulation and professional and occupational standard
setting and regulation, as exists to varying extents across professional occupations.
Providers with strong track records for quality can be delegated degrees of selfregulation
in both inputs and outputs.
Awarding and international quality assurance agencies. Major awarding bodies such
as the Cities and Guilds and Cisco have established their own quality requirements
for the award of their qualifications. International agencies such as ISO are used
across many national VET systems (including the Australian system) and have a
formal role in the quality assurance processes in the German VET system.
• Sets of integrated mechanisms to deliver the required level of quality assurance. The main
mechanisms are:
o Setting standards and accrediting VET programs and qualifications.
o Registration of provider accreditation.
o The processes for awarding of qualifications, including assessment systems.
o Auditing and inspecting providers.
o Evaluating the quality of programs and qualifications and their delivery.
• Separation of functions. There are obvious process and probity advantages in the separation
of audit and regulatory functions.
Mediations and restraints
The location and particular characteristics of, and relationship between, these mechanisms differ
between all countries. These differences relate to four sets of variables:
• The governance structures, mechanisms and cultures of the nation state. The nature of the
nation state can vary on the basis of:
Comparisons of international quality assurance in vocational education and training Page 13 of 115