Australia

Citation

(2009), "Australia", Education + Training, Vol. 51 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2009.00451bab.003

Australia

Article Type: Research news From: Education + Training, Volume 51, Issue 2

Review of higher education

Australia needs to spend billions more on universities, offer students larger allowances and expose higher education to market forces or it will suffer chronic shortfalls in graduate numbers, acording to a landmark report to the Federal Government. The Bradley review of higher education, says higher education has deteriorated as a result of inadequate spending and warns that Australian universities face significant threats. Within the OECD Australia are now 9th out of 30 in the proportion of the population aged 25 to 34 years with such qualifications, down from 7th a decade ago.

A total of 29 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds have degree-level qualifications but in other OECD countries targets of up to 50 per cent have already been set. The report proposes lifting the share of 25- to 34-year-olds with degrees to 40 per cent by 2020 to ensure the nation remains competitive. The report calls for higher education funding to be deregulated, allowing universities to enrol as many students as they want and introducing a voucher-style system where subsidies “follow” students to the university they choose. It advocates the biggest injection of cash into universities for decades, recommending an extra $1.8 billion over the next four years in base funding for teaching, generous indexation worth another $1.14 billion and an extra $1.2 billion for research.

The full report can be seen at: www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Review/Pages/ReviewofAustralianHigherEducationReport.aspx

Australian vocational education and training statistics: student outcomes 2008

A National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) report presents information about the outcomes for students who completed their vocational education and training (VET) during 2007. The findings relate to students who were awarded a qualification (graduates), or who successfully completed part of a course and then left the VET system (module completers).

Employment

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  80.7 per cent of all graduates and 76.9 per cent of all module completers were employed after their training;

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  48.3 per cent of graduates and 33.3 per cent of module completers who were not employed before training were employed after their training;

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  17.1 per cent of all graduates and 14.1 per cent of all module completers were employed in their first full-time job after their training.

Relevance to employment

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  75.5 per cent of graduates and 61.6 per cent of module completers employed after training said that their training was highly or somewhat relevant to their current job.

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  73 per cent of graduates and 54 per cent of module completers employed after training received at least one job-related benefit from their training, such as getting a job or promotion.

Further study

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  32.8 per cent of all graduates were enrolled in further study after their training.

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  89.1 per cent of all graduates were employed or in further study after their training.

Satisfaction

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  89 per cent of all graduates and 85.5 per cent of all module completers were satisfied with the overall quality of their training.

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  87.9 per cent of graduates and 82 per cent of module completers fully or partly achieved their main reason for doing their training.

Intended occupation

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  30.3 per cent of graduates were employed in the same occupation group as their training course. A further 33.8 per cent were employed in other occupations but found their training relevant.

The full publication is available at: www.ncver.edu.au/statistics/surveys/sos08/sos08.pdf

New web site

A new web site has been launched to disseminate the work of The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) focus on the progress of young Australians as they move from their mid-teens to their mid-twenties. The web site brings together all the LSAY activity into a single dedicated location. Available at: www.lsay.edu.au/