Dr. Jill Biden addresses the UNESCO Higher Education Conference

Dr. Jill Biden, teacher and advocate of Community Colleges, and wife of the US Vice President, has made an historic Welcome Address to the UNESCO Higher Education Conference 2009.

Dr Biden spoke of her belief in the role of Community Colleges in educational attainment targets, as proposed by the US Administration.

Dr. Biden, a teacher in American Community Colleges, spoke passionately about the place of Colleges, and how frequently this education market is neglected at the expense of other areas of school or traditional post-school university education.

Professor David Battersby, Vice Chancellor of University of Ballarat, whose TAFE division a member of TDA, was a delegate to the UNESCO Conference, and wrote a special report in the Ballarat Courier about Dr. Biden’s speech.

The UNESCO Conference Address flags a similar policy debate in Australia regarding higher post-school attainment targets, and the unique role for TAFE Institutes in supporting higher vocational and higher education qualifications.