Occasional Paper - TAFE Directors Australia

36
and experience that are needed for them to direct
their institutes in the new, demand-driven and
competitive training market.
This Bill represents one of the most significant
reforms to education and training in Victoria in
recent years. It will better equip our institutions to
meet the challenges of a competitive, demanddriven
training market and will significantly
improve governance, accountability and regulatory
arrangements.
Pathways to tertiary education
An Expert Panel, chaired by Professor Kwong Lee
Dow, was commissioned to advise the Victorian
Government on the growth of Victorian tertiary
education, found that by 2025 we will need 47
per cent of Victorians in the age group 25 to 34 to
hold a bachelor degree or above to meet industry
needs. In analysing how many people Victoria’s
knowledge economy will need with bachelor level
qualifications, the Panel also recognised that there is
also a need for a greater number of people with VET
qualifications.
To achieve this there will be two preconditions:
• greater diversity of providers able to offer
Commonwealth supported places, with TAFE
institutes able to quickly grow degree level
output in areas that are not necessarily covered
by Table A providers
• clearer pathways alternate to the traditional
school to university model, as traditional
pathways won’t be sufficient to achieve the
structure and skills profile the Expert Panel
identified as essential to maintain economic
and social wellbeing.
In this latter context, better structured pathways
between vocational and higher education are seen
as key strategies for maximising participation in
and attainment of graduate qualifications. This
further presents the opportunity for VET providers
to compete for an expanding market. A range of
Victorian VET and university partnerships currently
exist which the Victorian Government is seeking to
support and extend, in particular through credit/
articulation arrangements, franchised arrangements
and joint VET/higher education delivery. Several
Victorian TAFEs already offer bachelor degrees and
are well positioned to drive up participation in
higher level qualifications. TAFE NSW has recently
been registered as a higher education provider in
NSW and will begin to deliver higher education
programs from February 2011.
Victoria has the unique and enviable position
of having four of the nation’s five dual sector
institutions. With existing access to the
Commonwealth Supported Places for their
higher education programs, these institutes
are well placed to provide integrated pathways
from industry led delivery of national vocational
qualifications, through to higher education. The
Victorian Government supports the extension of
Commonwealth Supported Places to any higher
education provider, including VET providers, which
meets quality standards. The commencement of
new University Acts this year has recognised that a
modern university may reach out of the traditional
domains of higher education and deliver other forms
of education and training.