Tell him he’s dreamin’ – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

A report[1] sent to me last week on degree apprenticeships in England points to the challenges we’ll have here in Australia in establishing a tertiary education system. Whether it’s a tertiary system (unified in governance, regulation, funding and esteem), an eco-system of co-existing or co-dependent parts, or better-connected vocational education and training and higher education is up for debate here in Australia.

Much has been made of higher-level apprentices in Australia catalysed by the English Degree Apprenticeship. The English model was developed off the back of a levy introduced in May 2017 requiring 0.5 percent of payroll of companies with a wage bill over £3 million to be put into degree apprenticeships. Smaller companies pay no levy but can participate, with the government covering about 95 per cent of the cost.

The report is by the Higher Education Commission, an independent body comprising representatives from business and higher education.

Candidates study toward a degree while also placed in work, mainly in professional and para-professional occupations.

The term ‘degree’ is central. And as a result, the courses are run by universities. The programs that have got off the ground with reasonable numbers are those for large employers. Non-levy employers, or small and medium enterprise employers, rely on the government approving universities to deliver the training but this has been spectacularly slow.

Each program relies on agreed industry standards for the apprenticeship. The Commission’s feedback on standards development will be familiar to Australians. They take too long to prepare and to be agreed and there’s concern they don’t relate sufficiently to the needs of the industry.

Universities complain that the paperwork to sign-up apprentices is too cumbersome!

Overall though, the scheme to date appears to have been a major equity failure. There are no pathways, so potential candidates who have lower level qualifications struggle to get access, let alone have their achievements from elsewhere recognised. Big employers have had success at the cost of SMEs. And candidates from regions which do not have the large employers struggle to gain access.

And, it suffers from an identity challenge. While the scheme is recognised as high merit, candidates are put off by the term ‘apprentice’.

Innes Willox, CEO of the Australian Industry Group released last Friday a report Realising Potential – Solving Australia’s tertiary education challenge[2]. Innes argues for a coherent and connected tertiary sector where the merits of vocational education and training and higher education are equal for Australian citizens.

The commission’s report shows this will not be easy. Long held prejudices, entrenched policy mindsets and rent seeking are just some of the barriers. The spirit of Darryl Kerrigan springs to mind – ‘tell him he’s dreaming’. But we love the under-dog and the fair go, so maybe the VET sector can be the proud castle of the Australian tertiary education landscape!! There’s a lot of work to be done, however.

A correction
In last week’s newsletter we over-played ASQAs cancellation of 11 RTOs. Some RTOs rectified what appeared to be minor issues and their registration was retained. It seems the revocation of a decision is not as prominent on the ASQA site as the notice of cancellation, at least to us in TDA.

See the article below for an explanation.