TDA policy position papers on tertiary education - TAFE Directors ...

TEQSA – National VET Regulator AlignmentThe evolution of a national tertiary regulator and a separate VETregulator has arisen primarily as a result of recommendationscontained in the Bradley Review. The Review recommended thatnational regulation was appropriate for an expanded tertiary sector andthat the interim <strong>position</strong> of two regulators should transition into oneregulator by 2012.There are many legal and constitutional impediments to achieving atimely transition but just as importantly as these, <strong>TDA</strong> considers thatthe existing provider categories in the National Protocols for HigherEducation do not accommodate the variety of institutional types thatexist now in that sector. Moreover, in the VET sector, there is nodifferentiation between 5,000+ existing providers. <strong>TDA</strong> maintains thatclarifying the provider categories in Higher Education and establishingprovider categories in the VET sector are essential steps to enable thetransition to occur. Without these steps being taken, there would beno commonality of approach to this issue.The Australian Qualifications FrameworkThe advent of a single qualifications architecture in the revisedAustralian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is further impetus for thetertiary sector. According to the Communiqué for a recent MinisterialCouncil for Tertiary Education and Employment (MCTEE) Meeting,the AQF will ‘result in an increasingly integrated tertiary sector, withstronger pathways between VET and Higher Education’. 8 The TEQSAlegislation has already incorporated the revised AQF as a vehicleto clarify the definition of Higher Education courses. As it becomesmore widely known across all education sectors, the revised AQF willprovide a clear and consistent basis that providers can use to publicisethe level of qualifications offered.8Communiqué for the MCTEE Meeting, 19 November 2010, p. 2.4 THE CASE TO REVIEW PROVIDER CATEGORIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION