Mathematics as a pre-requisite for tertiary study
3.1
Universities stopped setting mathematics prerequisites for tertiary courses in the 1990s. While this system may have enabled some students to gain eligibility for courses, it has been criticised for undermining mathematics completion rates.
3.2
The Chief Scientist argued that the elimination of mathematics as a prerequisite for tertiary study is a systemic failure of Australia’s education system:
The way to get kids doing maths properly is to look at what is currently a failure in the system, which is the elimination over the last 20 years of prerequisites. Bring back prerequisites for maths to get into university and that will impact maths education all the way down to primary school, because the principals will understand that you cannot train HSC year 12 students as effective maths achievers if you are not starting that job all the way through.
3.3
The Committee heard that from 2019 the University of Sydney:
… is going to reinstate maths prerequisites for a range of its degrees, but at the moment they are assumed. Part of the reason the University of Sydney did this was that it was presented with evidence that showed that those students who were coming in without the right level of knowledge had miserable progression rates and were dropping out and so on.
3.4
Ms Anne-Marie Lansdown of Universities Australia told the Committee that many universities are revisiting the discussion on whether to set a mathematics pre-requisite for their courses because:
What was happening in schools was that students, very capable students, were looking at the system and deciding that they may be able to maximise their ATAR by dropping maths. Because maths was not a prerequisite, that would be okay. The universities are now going down a path that says: 'Actually, we're not being clear with the students. They will be much better served if they understand they are going to need a level of maths when they arrive'.
3.5
Not all universities will want to make maths a prerequisite for university study. An alternative would be to make maths a prerequisite for obtaining an ATAR. That would ensure the majority of school leavers attending university have undertaken formal maths study, while still leaving it open for universities to accept students via other pathways without making maths a blanket prerequisite.
Women in STEM subjects
3.6
There has been a decline in the proportion of women undertaking secondary mathematics, physics and chemistry. This decline is further accentuated in the transition from secondary to tertiary study. The Australian Industry Group cite the following figures:
The participation of women in STEM employment in 2008 was 45.1 per cent, only a small increase of 2.8 per cent from 1992 especially in relation to other areas of employment. Accordingly, women are an under-utilised resource in the workforce and could provide a larger talent pool from which to draw STEM employees.
3.7
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering’s (ATSE) submission informed the Committee that it had:
…partnered with the Australian Academy of Science to establish Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE)…and aims to improve the environment and prospects of female STEM professional in higher education institutions.
3.8
The SAGE program is discussed in box 3.1 below.
Box 3.1: Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE)
The Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program’s Dr Saraid Billiards says SAGE is tapping into “a groundswell for significant movement on gender equity” in Australia’s education and research sector.
The SAGE program aims to improve gender equity and diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.
Forty Australian organisations have signed up to participate in the SAGE program, including 30 universities – that is more than two-thirds of our universities; six medical research institutes and four publicly funded research agencies.
The National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) is supporting the expansion of SAGE.
“The NISA funding has allowed us to bring more organisations on board, enabling us to accommodate the very strong interest from Australian universities, medical and research institutes and publicly-funded institutions for national, collective action to address gender inequity,” Dr Billiards says.
In joining the pilot, each institution has declared their commitment to the 10 Principles of the Athena SWAN Charter. The Vice Chancellor or Director of each institution has made a commitment to support and resource their institutes to lead an evidence-based evaluation of policy, practices and cultural change to drive gender equity and diversity.
The SAGE program is based on the success of the United Kingdom’s ATHENA Swan Program and was founded by the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.
3.9
The Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science points out that:
The issue of gender equity in STEM is as much an economic issue as it is an equity issue: the loss of scientifically trained women from the STEM workforce represents a poor return on public investment in STEM education, limits their opportunities to contribute to the national research effort and reduces women’s ability to participate in or form businesses – all of which have a significant impact on productivity. The Australian Government has introduced a number of NISA initiatives as a response to this gender imbalance.
Measures include supporting the expansion of the Science in Australia Gender Equity Pilot and partnership with the private sector to celebrate female STEM role models to foster interest in STEM amongst girls and women.
3.10
Part of the issue with getting girls into STEM courses appears to be aspirational and may be in part because of the language about relevant courses being heavy in references to STEM. For example, Mr Luke Kerr suggested to the Committee:
…to put girls off is to call it engineering at, say, ages nine and 10, but to talk about making, doing, design thinking and being creative is a better way of engaging girls into STEM-related fields. That is why, when I say STEM, I really mean it very broadly, because what we are talking about is problem-solving, and we are talking about complex problems.
That does mean that we have to work with families and communities to really empower the families to believe that, just because they did not work in or have a real confidence around technology, it does not mean their kids cannot.
3.11
Mr Kerr’s comments on the importance of the way STEM is communicated is supported by studies that shows that American girls often score highly on the math and verbal part of their SAT test but then ‘were more likely to pursue non-STEM careers after graduation’ and suggest storytelling might be a way to keep these high achieving girls in STEM:
If teachers taught STEM subjects through the lens of story we think many of those high-achieving girls with astronomical verbal scores might be more interested. It sure beats a pink microscope.
3.12
In spite of challenges with getting women into STEM subjects, the evidence suggests that once women enter STEM employment they often do exceptionally well:
When you compare boys and girls going into engineering, the girls are even better than the boys. So even though there is a very low proportion of girls going into engineering, what we are getting are extremely talented young women.
3.13
The low level of girls and women participating in STEM education and employment is, like low participation of girls and women in other education or employment sectors - it represents a loss of opportunity for individuals, the Australian economy and polity. As we move into a more STEM focussed economy this loss of opportunity will only be accentuated. The evidence given to the Committee shows that educators are aware of, and are, with SAGE as one example, addressing the issue of women in STEM.
Vocational Education and Training
3.14
The Committee heard that the vocational education and training (VET) sector can play a key role in developing and maintaining the STEM skills of the Australian workforce. This is because much of the nation’s STEM workforce already hold VET qualifications and find it less time consuming and less costly to maintain /increase their qualifications through a short VET course as opposed to a university course.
The Department of Education and Training cited an Australia Bureau of Statistics report showing that half of the nation’s STEM qualified workforce hold a certificate III or IV qualification and in 2014 over 900,000 VET students were undertaking STEM education.
3.15
Optus suggested that the VET sector is better able to respond quickly to the evolving skill requirements of the Australian workforce than the tertiary sector because it offers shorter courses:
1.8 million people in the country are enrolled in a VET course. The advantage of TAFEs is that they are agile. They have a very rich history in working with industry which universities do not necessarily have.
3.16
The Victorian TAFE Association explained that TAFE has:
…a more mature student base than expected. Yes, apprentices tend to be young, but apart from that cohort you are talking about an average age which is in the 30s. People come back to TAFE and engage with VET throughout their careers—it is a lifelong process. It tends to be more palatable and easier to engage with than university, as a general rule, but perhaps online is helping universities in that respect. Lots of short courses and lots of as-you-need-it or just-in-time learning—that is where TAFE and VET operate.
3.17
However, concerns were raised as to the lack of information about the quality of STEM education in the VET sector. The Committee heard that the VET regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), does not explicitly assess STEM teaching:
When we are audited, ASQA as the auditor comes in and has a look through what we have been teaching. They will tick off against the list of explicit things that we are supposed to be doing, but STEM is not there.
3.18
The Committee notes that the following from ASQA’s website:
Through the work of Skills Service Organisations in developing training packages, industry defines the skills required by the labour market. ASQA ensures that registered training organisations are meeting the requirements of these industry-developed training packages, so that VET graduates have the required skills and competencies for employment.
3.19
Mr Andrew Williamson of the Victorian TAFE Association provided evidence that not being assessed against STEM has particular undesirable outcomes at a teacher level:
One of the systemic issues in there is that the people who we hire to be good teachers and who are also good tradespeople do not tend to be strong STEM people. That is a massive generalisation, but I am going to say that it is there. They are not confident in that space, anyway. It is not explicit in the training product and therefore, when money and resources are limited, we drop things that are not explicitly assessed—we are not assessed against—down the priority list. We are not doing enough and we are not good enough…
3.20
Navitas Ltd suggested that providers could better respond to the changing demands of the new economy if:
the number of listed electives in training package qualifications was reduced to one third of the total units to enable room for genuine electives; ASQA’s timeframe for approving new courses was reduced to enable more rapid accreditation of new courses;
uncapping the number of government subsidised students which low risk VET providers can enrol;
Commonwealth Supported Places were extended to VET level V and VI courses as these are programs often undertaken by learners who are already working and looking to up-skill or re-skill; and
standardising credit students can receive for prior VET courses to avoid them having to pay to redo previously completed courses.
3.21
TAFE Queensland pointed out that the VET sector is largely excluded from the Australian Government’s National Science and Innovation Agenda:
The National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) demonstrates the Federal Government’s commitment to fostering innovation as an essential component of driving Australia’s economy. The Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector presents many opportunities for nurturing innovation, however this is currently under acknowledged through NISA where funding under this initiative is largely aimed at the university sector.
3.22
It was pointed out to the Committee that the VET sector is funded for an outcome: the completion of a qualification rather than a job. As Mr David Morgan, Chief Executive Officer, Artibus Innovation, put it:
…it depends on the outcome you are funding. If your outcome is a qualification, that is going to get the 'tick and flick' to get to a qualification. In vocational training, the outcome should be a vocation: a job. Why don't you fund that?
3.23
The Committee was informed that there is an analogus model, the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NIES), that has remuneration based on an outcome being the establishment of a business:
The way that they are remunerated is that they provide the training but get 80 per cent of their funding upon establishment of the business and the additional 20 per cent three months post establishment.
3.24
In contrast to the majority of submitters, NESA argued against a specific focus on STEM:
An education system which focuses on context-specific hard-skills to the detriment of the more fundamental requirements of adaptability and communication does not serve either its graduates or the labour market and the skill-gaps created by such a system will only widen with time.
Worse, attempting to second guess the unknowable future directions of job market evolution by focussing too narrowly on one type of educational stream (such as STEM) is dangerous and socially irresponsible.
Transition between the VET and higher education sectors
3.25
The Committee noted evidence that, apart from a handful of co-located institutions, there were limited connections between vocational education and training providers and tertiary providers. The Committee notes that at its visit on 16 March 2017, the University of the Sunshine Coast showed the Committee that vocational and higher education students were studying nursing together.
3.26
Some submitters suggested that students would be more easily able to progress from VET to tertiary education if the two sectors collaborated to:
ensure that the competencies taught in certificate IV, diploma and other VET qualifications clearly linked up to corresponding bachelor degrees; and
design and deliver bridging courses to explicitly teach the STEM skills students may have missed out on at the secondary school level, but which are required to successfully complete STEM degrees at the tertiary level.
3.27
La Trobe University described the way in which it collaborates effectively with local TAFEs to shape effective pathway courses for nursing and other health professions:
The area where you see most movement between TAFE and universities is around nursing and health. The career path for a nurse is that enrolled nurses train at TAFE; registered nurses train at university. So, if you want to progress, that is where you make the switch.
For many years, most universities have had what is called a div 2 conversion degree or something like that, where you take students who trained at the TAFE into your nursing program. Historically, the way we did that at La Trobe was that you completed your TAFE study and came to see us. What we would find, for instance, was that students did not have the required level of prescribing maths. So our solution was to test them. We would make them take an exam and say, 'Is your maths good enough? If your maths is good enough, you can come in.'
Of course, we were actually dealing with a whole bunch of people whose school attainment, generally speaking, was not as strong. They might have dropped out of maths earlier and so on. We got terrible conversion rates. Those who did come through were successful because we checked on their maths. What we now do is we ask the TAFEs to get their maths up to the required level before they transfer in.
So working with other parts of the system, you can actually embed exactly that into the diploma and make sure those students are right to go when they come.
3.28
As La Trobe University has an enviable amount of integration with TAFE, the Committee asked for some additional detailed responses to specific questions. The University’s responses are set out below.
3.29
La Trobe University pointed out that there is significant effort required to create transitional arrangements between TAFEs and university and that a simple recognition of prior learning model was not conducive to students continuing their educational journey, because:
Students were not adequately prepared for the difference in HE learning approaches and expectations.; and,
Underlying learning deficits had not been identified and addressed. First-in-family participants in post-school education or higher vocational education did not self-identify as ‘university capable’.
3.30
La Trobe University listed three regulatory hurdles issues to creating transitional arrangements from TAFEs to university. These were:
The HE funding mechanism caps sub-degree (AQF5) funded places but leaves the AQF7 level uncapped, thus encouraging the majority of enrolments into bachelor courses;
The TEQSA [Tertiary Education and Quality Standards Agency] threshold standards are applied at the qualification enrolment level (e.g. AQF7 for a bachelor course) rather than the actual learning level at year 1 (AQF5 equivalent); and,
The variance in standards required for teaching at VET and HE: in VET, the teaching standard is a relevant qualification, industry experience and a Cert IV in Training & Assessment whereas in HE, the standard is AQF level taught +1 or the same AQF level with significant industry experience.
3.31
Asked about funding issues and the use of Commonwealth Supported Place funding versus TAFE funding La Trobe University stated that:
The funding model for the dual enrolment program utilises CSP funding for the bachelor enrolment. Students pay fees to the TAFE for their diploma course during the dual enrolment, however the TAFE returns any State funding subsidy to the State at an equivalent level of the funding provided under the CSP contribution from the Commonwealth.
3.32
La Trobe University noted that dual enrolled students appear as a non-completion if they exit after gaining their vocational diploma. This is a drawback for the university as it, somewhat artificially, presents a high attrition rate when in reality students have completed a qualification.
3.33
This echoes evidence in the Bachelor degree section below on ‘completion rates’.
3.34
La Trobe University’s recommendations for better integration of TAFE and University are as follows:
Allow self-accrediting universities more scope to integrate vocational units into degree courses by recognising within TEQSA guidance that year 1 of a bachelor course is at AQF level 5.
Extend uncapped sub-degree places to self-accrediting, Table A universities for application in bachelor degree structures that have nested diploma and associate degree structures.
Encourage closer alignment of ASQA and TEQSA standards at AQF5 level, or allow them to be directly substituted without penalty.
Reconsider the structure of VET qualifications and move to a model whereby national qualifications have a common core built around ‘capabilities’ required for an occupation, with greater discretion at VET provider level for course customisation to meet local industry needs.
Allow for the development of joint VET / HE offerings between self-accrediting universities and local autonomous TAFE institutes.
Improve the interface between VET and HE sectors, which would contribute towards a more resilient VET sector.
3.35
Universities Australia’s submission supports extending the demand driven system to associate degrees and states:
Contrary to the original policy intention, the demand-driven system has been limited to Bachelor degrees only. Extending the demand-driven system to associate degrees would assist in filling skills gaps in the economy, provide more choice for students who may be better suited to associate degree study, and provide an alternative entry route to university for those less well-prepared. Associate degrees are valued by employers because they provide practical skills that can be applied immediately in the workplace.
Sub-bachelor places
3.36
Sub‑bachelor courses in higher education are available in all the major fields of education, and serve a variety of purposes. Some are diploma‑level pathway courses aimed principally at getting students into a higher qualification. Others are shorter qualifications in particular areas, such as a diploma of languages, arts or music. These diploma courses can be studied in combination with a bachelor degree by students who want to pursue broader interests in their undergraduate education.
3.37
Associate degrees are two‑year courses that typically prepare students for paraprofessional work. Students can usually get academic credit towards a bachelor degree if they want to continue with their studies.
3.38
Evidence to the Committee suggests that a sizeable proportion of university students gain entry to their course from a sub-bachelor place. The University of Newcastle noted that 20 per cent of its students enter a bachelor degree through a sub-bachelor course.
3.39
The University of Melbourne told the Committee that the cap on sub-bachelor places was a distorting factor which made it hard for universities. It indicated that excluding sub-bachelor programs from the demand-driven system may be forcing students to enter longer bachelor degrees.
3.40
La Trobe University explained that:
…capping sub-bachelor and enabling places results in many more students with marginal preparedness entering bachelors programs, and leads to lower levels of completion and higher rates of attrition. These students may benefit from a more supportive transition to higher education than can be achieved through sub-bachelor programs.
3.41
Conversely, La Trobe University also explained that uncapping sub-bachelor places would:
…open opportunities for communities with lower levels of academic preparedness to build the skills needed to participate in the new economy. There may be particular advantages in focusing sub-bachelor places in areas facing economic adjustment (for example, the regions surrounding Australia’s automotive manufacturing plants) and areas where there is long term cyclical disadvantage necessitating educational interventions (for example, some regional or low socioeconomic status communities).
3.42
Similarly, The University of Tasmania argued that the current cap on pre-degree funded places:
… actively discourages flexible study options and the University strongly recommends the removal of enrolment caps from funded associate degree places. This current barrier is particularly pertinent to the Tasmanian educational attainment agenda, with the limited number of pre-degree places that are funded and the University’s low SES cohort and potential catchment area – Tasmania’s need is for non-traditional students to attempt university study and as such it is important that students are able to do so without incurring additional financial burden.
3.43
The University of Tasmania further suggested that removing or varying the cap on sub-bachelor places would:
…result in a greater number of Commonwealth-supported places for many more students at the sub-bachelor level. It would also enable the University to offer a range of Associate Degrees that are targeted at students currently not attending, or attracted to, university.
3.44
Universities Australia also supported removing the cap on sub-bachelor places arguing that sub-bachelor degrees are:
…a very effective pathway for students who perhaps have not had the opportunity to prepare for university but are very capable of undertaking a university degree…
3.45
The Australian Catholic University argued that:
[P]roviding demand driven funding to sub-bachelor courses at public universities will assist to not only ensure that enough people are trained to fill the jobs of the future, but that they have the skills to take full advantage of the opportunities that flow from these jobs.
3.46
The 2014 Review of the Demand Driven Funding System – Final Report recommended that sub-bachelor higher education courses be included in the demand driven system noting that:
Relative to existing spending on the CGS, these costs are not excessive for the benefits likely to be gained.
3.47
The majority of evidence received by the Committee was from universities in favour of un-capping sub-bachelor higher education courses the Committee is aware that this is not wholly supported by TAFEs.
3.48
The Victorian TAFE Association submission to the Driving Innovation, Fairness and Excellence in Australian Higher Education Review referring to the review’s consultation paper stated that:
The consultation paper outlines proposals for the uncapping of Sub-Bachelor places at the Universities. The TAFEs could not compete with University courses that benefit from CSP subsidies, and the effect would be to decimate Sub-Bachelor delivery at the TAFEs.
The VTA considers that any proposal to uncap Sub-Bachelor programs should occur only if the recommendations outlined above regarding CSP (where funding would be provided to TAFE HEPs at the same rate available to Universities) are implemented, thereby placing the TAFE HEPs and the University sector on a fairer and equal policy platform. In the event that the Commonwealth enables Universities to offer CSP places for Sub-Bachelor degrees, then similarly, such CSP subsidies should be made available at the same rate for Sub-Bachelors offered by the TAFE HEPs.
Tertiary education
The impact of the demand driven system
3.49
As of 2012, Australian university admissions are demand driven by student preferences for courses rather than a cap on enrolments for courses. Medicine is the only undergraduate university degree that is capped.
3.50
Universities Australia noted that:
[T]he demand-driven system has been effective. Between 2007 and 2014, the number of Bachelor graduates increased by 21 per cent; more than twice the growth rate in the preceding six years.
3.51
Innovative Research Universities (IRU) suggested in its submission that the greatest growth in university places through demand driven funding:
…has come in science, technology and engineering courses and in the health professions. Despite this, there are regular claims that demand driven funding is producing too many lawyers, accountants and arts graduates, based on assumption rather than a good look at the data.
3.52
Mr Mike Teece, Policy Director, Academic, Universities Australia, in response to suggestions that the number of low ATAR students would drop with the demand driven system as such students would cost more, said that:
In 2014, which is the latest year for which data are available, the number of students who received an offer based on an ATAR below 50 was only three per cent of all offers; and the number of students who received a university offer who had an ATAR of 60 or below was 8½ per cent. Those numbers are a little bit higher than in 2009, before the demand-driven system came in but, as a proportion of total offers, of which there were nearly 230,000 in 2014, it is still fairly small.
3.53
The demand driven system has provided or helped provide many positive outcomes. It is a system where students can take control of their education based on personal preference.
3.54
Dr Gwilym Croucher of the University of Melbourne expressed strong support for the demand driven system but pointed out that:
…there is always going to be some lag, some time delay, but, if students can indicate what it is they want to enrol in, that means over the longer term, the medium term, institutions can be responsive to that and create the kind of courses students want to do.
3.55
In 2013, five years after the Demand Driven System had been put in place, the then Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP appointed a review panel ‘to review and make recommendations in relation to the demand driven funding arrangements’. The Hon David Kemp was the Senior Reviewer and Mr Andrew Norton was the Reviewer. The review’s final report Review of the Demand Driven Funding System – Final Report is also known as the Kemp Norton Review.
3.56
The 2014 Review of the Demand Driven Funding System – Final Report noted that:
…the demand driven system puts added pressure on higher education providers to offer good technology. There is the potential for learning analytics and adaptive learning software to be a selling point for universities, if they can show that these have an observable effect on student grades and retention. Universities that do not offer the right technology risk losing market share.
3.57
The Australian Catholic University (ACU) submitted that:
…while the demand driven funding system has proven to be extremely effective at ensuring the Australian higher education system meets current and future skill needs, one of the best ways to encourage innovative approaches to solving problems is to provide a study environment that is itself innovative and inspiring. The Kemp-Norton review found that this is the type of higher education system that the demand driven funding system is facilitating, finding that ‘the demand driven system has encourage technology based innovation in higher education.’
The demand driven system is therefore essential to ensuring that Australia is innovative, creative and agile, as it will need to be in the economy of the future.
3.58
Innovative Research Universities (IRU) argued that using workforce estimates to calculate enrolment risks confusing current needs with future ones:
…workforce planning that drives enrolments rather than informs potential students runs up against differences in current needs to potential future ones.
Further, in the context of developing the knowledge based industries that thrive on innovation, it is the unexpected that causes the greater impact. Workforce planning tends to be limited by extrapolating from the current, with little capability to guess the future.
3.59
IRU strongly stated that:
Estimates of future workforce needs should inform potential students but should not control students’ choice of course.
3.60
As noted above, the demand driven system creates an environment in which universities have had to become more responsive to students’ educational choices. However, there are still issues around whether courses provide the skills that the business community feel are required for a more innovative and creative future.
3.61
UTS noted that there:
…is a concern within the Australian business community that the [student] demand driven university system has not worked well enough to deliver the technical skills that individuals and the nation require for innovation and creativity. Many of these skills are delivered through the VET system. But, for some reason in Australia, a higher status is accorded to university education compared to VET. This is in contrast to the German system of tertiary education where academic and technical institutions are accorded equal status.
3.62
UTS explained that the view in the business community is that:
…universities and VET institutions have a role to develop entrepreneurial and business skills and that leaning these capabilities should be included in undergraduate courses.
3.63
UTS went on to suggest that under the demand driven system:
…business has limited opportunity to influence demand, unless it contributes to the cost of education and training by paying student course fees that are currently paid by students through the FEE-HELP system. There is a role for businesses, particularly at the regional level, to advise students of employment and work opportunities. There are indications that potential students prefer to hear these messages from employers rather than education providers and third parties.
The bachelor degree
3.64
The Committee considered evidence on whether a three or four year bachelor degree is the most appropriate qualification structure in an age of rapid technological change and changing employer demands for skills. It asked witnesses whether higher education providers may need to modify their product to suit the fast-changing demands of industry and the new economy.
3.65
Mr Conor King, Executive Director, Innovative Research Universities, observed that:
Where universities struggle is at the bachelor level. They often would like to offer students a shorter qualification in a parallel area—so if you wanted to study a language while you are doing engineering, you could. Right now the only way you can really study a language is as part of an arts degree—there is nothing wrong with that, obviously—but we need the people who did languages at school and who have gone off to do other types of courses. How do they keep up the language?
I say to people, 'Do not be silly. If you are offering a diploma and it is bachelor-level work then clearly it meets the requirements of a diploma because that is a lower level.' The AQF in theory allows you to create a new thing or to have less length of time involved but at the same level and that is a flexibility that needs to be encouraged.
3.66
IRU noted in its submission that there is debate:
…about whether the bachelor degree, with its requirement for three or more full time equivalent years of study, with limited options to leave part way with a credential, can survive.
3.67
Mr Andre Kaspura of Engineers Australia noted that some universities are now offering associate degrees in engineering, although demand for these tertiary positions is significantly lower than the four year program:
There is the professional engineer, where we require at least a four-year, full-time degree or better; the engineering technologist, where we require a three-year, full-time degree; and associate engineers or technicians, where we require either an associate degree of two years full-time or an advanced diploma from a TAFE. The three groupings perform somewhat different functions within the spectrum of engineering work.
3.68
The bachelor degree has been at the core of university education in Australia but, in a future placing an emphasis on skills and life-long learning, this focus is increasingly being questioned. Given the skill based education of VET, it is the VET sector that many more employers may turn to in order to get the practical training they need for their employees.
3.69
Ms Katrina Reynen from Optus told the Committee that for ‘some deep, core knowledge areas’ bachelor degrees are needed but ‘certainly not for a lot of our employees.’
3.70
The Pro Vice Chancellor (PVC) for Education, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of South Australia commented that many universities are responding to workplace requirements with Bachelor of Arts programs incorporating problem-solving based units, sometimes with external industry involvement. She noted that there is a focus on vocational outcomes in teaching.
I think the biggest change is possibly to the Bachelor of Arts. Many universities offer now a starkly different bachelor model and it is one that includes a number of problem based units, sometimes with external industry involvement. It works outwards both to arts and to science, and often to education, psychology and design disciplines. There is a real focus on vocational outcomes from our teaching and trying to embed that through a pathway via postgraduate study to our graduates working in industry and coming back in as alumni and working with us.
3.71
Students need to be aware of the skills sets they need for employment and the type of employment these skills might be able to get them:
There is a great document produced by the Foundation for Young Australians called The new work order. They generated about eight clusters of skill sets—you might have seen this. I think it is helpful when you are counselling kids—and we talked about counselling kids—through the process of thinking about a skill set and settling on a skill set and seeing the transferability in that. I am seeing a lot of young people leaving school really unclear about their vocation and what they are going to do.
We just saw in early January that a third of our kids are starting university and not finishing. I think that is around not being certain about what it was. I think the nature of work is that there is not the one career anymore. Because of that, kids need to be prepared better for that to be able to handle that sort of situation.
3.72
As employers move towards a focus on skills and lifelong learning it becomes clear that the time when people got a bachelor degree and engaged minimally with further education and training for the rest of their careers has passed. Whilst it may be too early to predict the end of the bachelor degree it is certainly the case that, such a degree, and, indeed, any form of qualification can only be seen as a base from which further education and training must come.
Developing adaptable graduates
3.73
As mentioned above employers, are moving towards a focus on skills and lifelong learning. As industries change it will be the employee who can adapt to this change that will be of the most benefit to employers. Therefore employers will look for adaptable graduates who will, through the course of their careers, be able to add value to their employers’ business.
3.74
The Committee pursued two lines of inquiry in terms of broadening the skill base within the structure of university courses.
First is whether students undertaking STEM courses would benefit from a business or entrepreneurship unit being incorporated into their course; and,
Second is whether university faculties should incorporate a unit of business, statistics, technology and entrepreneurship as a requisite for their degrees.
3.75
It is clear that, in the absence of information about current employment opportunities, students must graduate with transferable skills.
3.76
Allaran Pty Ltd a consultancy advising on skill requirements into the future, echoing the above, stating:
Continually adapting and repositioning for the future is essential. This is true for individuals, organisations, sectors and nations more broadly. Therefore a key challenge facing the education system is preparing students to rapidly move between a range of jobs that potentially don't yet exist. While it may be difficult to predict future demand for specific jobs, adaptability is a skill that can be enhanced through education and will serve students well regardless of how the future unfolds.
3.77
The Committee heard that universities must find a way to value experience gained through exchanges with industry:
One of the things that we expect will happen, by encouraging internships and work integrated learning at the undergraduate level and then looking for a higher number of placements at the PhD and other postgraduate levels, is that students will understand and industry will understand the benefit of that exchange. Of course, it is much harder to start that process at the top. It also goes back to reward and recognition systems inside the universities. Universities do have to find ways to value that sort of experience.
My understanding is that some of the granting programs are looking at finding ways to value that sort of experience. I think industry also has to value having people at some of those more senior levels with university experience. I think it is a cultural change process. We are not doing it particularly well at the moment, but I think that everybody recognises that we would be better served if we did.
3.78
UTS told the Committee that it has made statistics and numeracy skills compulsory across the whole university:
…what UTS has done is implement a prerequisite that says, 'How do I give people numeracy in the context of what their career is, and then how do they understand it?' That ups the numeracy skills at the same time as giving them what are called the communication and contextual skills to be apply that numeracy in the new jobs for the future, which is what is going to happen.
3.79
Swinburne University’s Swinburne Design Factory focuses on giving students a problem-solving environment and the opportunity to collaborate with students from several overseas universities. The focus on employment-ready skills covers inter-disciplinary teamwork, communication, project management, creative problem solving and client interaction.
3.80
The Academy of the Humanities noted that it has produced a:
… report mapping the humanities and social sciences in Australia, in collaboration with others, in order to facilitate the conversation about how we might each collaborate and provision for ensuring that students coming out with STEM skills do understand a little about business, creativity, intercultural knowledge and exchange—foreign languages and so on—and that students in the humanities and the social sciences might be adequately equipped with some of the maths or science skills required for an effective workforce.
3.81
The Australian Deans of Health Sciences acknowledged that while Australian universities and TAFEs are graduating ‘a vast number of health professionals’, they are not necessarily provided with enough business skills. It did note that at the University of Queensland, final year pharmacy students are required to devise business plans. Further, the faculty has recently established a Centre for Business and Economics of Health.
3.82
The University of Newcastle informed the Committee that:
…the ability to have a range of the so-called generic skills targeted towards their business acumen, targeted towards entrepreneurship for example, targeted towards how they deploy the technical expertise they have in different disciplines is a really critical piece of the degrees of the future.
I think that we will start to see ourselves becoming less constrained necessarily by just graduating somebody for the immediate future and more graduating people with the skills that are able to be adapted as they move through their employment journey and hopefully also a parallel educational journey where they pick up other formal qualifications as we move on.
3.83
QUT Creative Enterprise Australia told the Committee that, the coupling of education with a company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and start-ups takes serious commitment but creates confident students:
…QUT would not have made the investment in setting up the company QUT Creative Enterprise Australia if it were not committed to and passionate about helping founders and start-ups grow. We are the only university funder and incubator of our kind in the whole of Australia focused on creative industries, so I think that says something quite serious about QUT's commitment not just to teaching cutting-edge entrepreneurial programs within the university but to what happens when they graduate. What is next?
That is where our company comes in, in being able to give them confidence and support on campus while they are studying. Last month we ran a creative tech start-up weekend and 70 per cent of students participated in that. It was completely sold out. It was an on-campus activity over a weekend about how to give students the chance to prototype an idea, and lots of other incubators and accelerators run those styles of programs.
3.84
The decline of the car manufacturing industry in Australia, for example, has demonstrated that people can no longer expect to have one job for their lifetime. The more skills people have or the more ability they have to pick up new skills will result in them being more able to adapt and re-position for future employment. Apart from the obvious economic benefits this should also decrease the personal and societal impact that un-employment brings.
3.85
The evidence above suggests that a skills based view of education is becoming more prevalent and is informing the way universities design their curriculums and engage with their students. It is hoped and expected that this approach will develop the adaptable graduates required for the workforce of the future.
Developing new units
3.86
Evidence received by the Committee broadly suggests that if Australia’s higher education sector is to provide the skills for the new economy, it needs itself to be able to adapt and innovate the product it delivers, according to industry and student, demands.
3.87
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) sets the standards for educational qualifications across schools, the VET sector and universities. Within the AQF framework, universities do their own accreditation.
3.88
The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) is the national regulator of the VET sector; the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) is the national regulator of the university sector. The Engineering Institute of Technology, commenting on these two regulators, states:
We are currently registered and accredited by both ASQA (for our vocational courses) and TEQSA (for our higher education courses). Our vocational diplomas are often indistinguishable from higher education courses. We believe it is worth unifying both TEQSA and ASQA regulatory bodies into one. This would be an unforgiving, arduous process, but there should be a seamless continuum from certificate courses through diplomas to bachelor degrees and further. The vocational and higher education distinction at the diploma levels and above is contrived.
3.89
The Committee expressed interest in how long it would take for a new VET course to be approved. Private education provider, Navitas Ltd, told the Committee that it takes ‘at least a year, sometimes 18 months’ to put together a new course and get it fully accredited through ASQA.
3.90
A number of submitters and witnesses provided evidence suggesting that accreditation of new courses is not always timely or straight forward. For example, the Imagine Consulting Group described this 18 month timeframe as ‘very optimistic’.
3.91
The Committee heard that professional healthcare accreditation bodies can be particularly rigid and prescriptive. The Australian Council of Deans of Health Sciences explained that this rigidity has meant that ‘we are training tomorrow’s workforce with yesterday’s standards’.
3.92
The level of change in curriculum ‘on the ground’ or shop floor is remarkable with Mr Sam Giddings of the NRMA telling the Committee that:
…new technology, we have been told, changes in a motor vehicle every 23 seconds worldwide—that is from the Institute of Automotive Mechanical Engineers…
3.93
Mr Giddings explained that this 23 seconds is in stark contrast to the time it takes for curriculum to be updated:
…if you need to update a course and modify that for the modern thing, we have been advised that it takes approximately two years to get approval for that, update all the materials and then roll it out. That might have been fine a couple of decades ago, but particularly when you are getting in some cases technological change as well that you need to accommodate, we seem to be a bit behind the eight ball there.
3.94
NESA described its concerns about the process of accreditation:
Industry requirements are local and fast-evolving. Training organisations need to be free to respond to target industries with tailored training packages that suit the industries’ particular needs. This kind of local reactivity simply cannot be achieved through a centralised compliance framework.
3.95
Evidence received by the Committee indicates that courses that do not keep up with progressive industries could hinder innovation. There is a tension between having courses that can keep step with the evolving skills environment and having given employers confidence that employees are qualified with a core base of identical skills.
Committee comment
3.96
The Committee recommends that relevant professional groups, such as Engineers Australia, report to the Minister for Education and Training the tertiary undergraduates courses requiring a math prerequisite.
3.97
The Committee recommends that mathematics be re-established as a pre-requisite for obtaining an ATAR.
3.98
The Committee was pleased to see that some universities have reinstated maths prerequisites for a range of their degrees. The Committee recommends that universities re-establish mathematics as a pre-requisite for relevant tertiary courses with an option for special circumstance exceptions.
3.99
The Committee recommends that universities re-establish mathematics as a pre-requisite for relevant tertiary courses with an option for special circumstance exceptions.
3.100
The Committee did not explore the issue of women in STEM in detail however the Committee is impressed with the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program and recommends that the Australian Government closely look at the results of this program and implement changes arising from it across schools.
3.101
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government closely look at the results of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program and implement changes arising from it across schools.
3.102
The Committee was concerned with the lack of information about the quality of STEM education in the VET sector. The Committee recommends that ASQA develop a set of VET quality metrics that can be reported on.
3.103
The Committee recommends that ASQA develop a set of VET quality metrics that can be reported on and is accessible by students and employers.
3.104
The National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) demonstrates the Federal Government’s commitment to fostering innovation as an essential component of driving Australia’s economy. The Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector presents many opportunities for nurturing innovation, however this is currently under acknowledged through NISA where funding under this initiative is largely aimed at the university sector.
3.105
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government’s National Science and Innovation Agenda be expanded to include the VET sector.
3.106
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government’s National Science and Innovation Agenda be expanded to include the VET sector.
3.107
The Committee was interested in the debate around funding for VET education. This funding is in place to assist VET students to gain an education and employment. In the opinion of the Committee, the government needs to fund the outcome they want therefore the Committee recommends that the Australian Government funding to VET maximises the provision of work integrated learning opportunities.
3.108
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government funding to VET maximises the provision of work integrated learning opportunities.
3.109
The Committee recommends that the VET and tertiary education sectors should collaborate to:
ensure that the competencies taught in certificate IV, diploma and other VET qualifications are linked to corresponding bachelor degrees; and,
design and deliver bridging courses to explicitly teach the STEM skills students may have missed out on at the secondary school level, but which are required to successfully complete tertiary qualifications.
3.110
Evidence on students moving from TAFE to university shows that issues surrounding such transfers are surmountable.
3.111
The Committee was impressed with the level of integration shown by TAFE and university submitters to the inquiry. As they show integration is possible, though not necessarily easy in a regulatory or funding sense. Suggested recommendations in this area, particularly those by La Trobe University, are supported by the Committee.
3.112
The Committee therefore recommends that a small working group consisting of representatives of the Australian Government Department of Employment and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, TEQSA, ASQA, students and unions be formed to consult with universities, TAFE’s and the private RTO sector with a view to preparing a submission for COAG to work towards streamlining integration between universities and the VET sector.
3.113
The Committee recommends that a small working group consisting of representatives of the Australian Government Department of Employment and the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, TEQSA, ASQA, students and unions be formed to consult with universities, TAFE’s and the private RTO sector with a view to preparing a submission for COAG to work towards streamlining integration between universities and the VET sector.
3.114
Further to the above the Committee specifically recommends that the Australian Government:
Allow self-accrediting universities more scope to integrate vocational units into degree courses by recognising within TEQSA guidance that year 1 of a bachelor course is at AQF level 5.
Encourage closer alignment of ASQA and TEQSA standards at AQF5 level, or allow them to be directly substituted without penalty.
Reconsider the structure of VET qualifications and move to a model whereby national qualifications have a common core built around ‘capabilities’ required for an occupation, with greater discretion at VET provider level for course customisation to meet local industry needs.
Allow for the development of joint VET / HE offerings between self-accrediting universities and local autonomous TAFE institutes.
Improve the interface between VET and HE sectors, which would contribute towards a more resilient VET sector.
3.115
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government
Allow self-accrediting universities more scope to integrate vocational units into degree courses by recognising within TEQSA guidance that year 1 of a bachelor course is at AQF level 5.
Encourage closer alignment of ASQA and TEQSA standards at AQF5 level, or allow them to be directly substituted without penalty.
Reconsider the structure of VET qualifications and move to a model whereby national qualifications have a common core built around ‘capabilities’ required for an occupation, with greater discretion at VET provider level for course customisation to meet local industry needs.
Encourage the development of joint VET / HE offerings between self-accrediting universities and local autonomous TAFE institutes.
Improve the interface between VET and HE sectors, which would contribute towards a more resilient VET sector.
3.116
The Committee was concerned that dual enrolled students appear as a non-completion to a university if they exit after gaining their vocational diploma. The Committee recommends that the Australian Government look into fixing this.
3.117
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government address the issue of dual enrolled students appearing as a tertiary non-completion where they exit with a vocational diploma.
3.118
In order to develop more adaptable graduates the Committee recommends that:
STEM courses should have a business or entrepreneurship unit being incorporated into their coursework; and,
University faculties incorporate a unit of business, statistics, technology and entrepreneurship in non-STEM degrees.
3.119
The Committee recommends that:
STEM courses have a business or entrepreneurship unit incorporated into their coursework; and,
University faculties incorporate a unit of business, statistics, technology or entrepreneurship in non-STEM degrees.
3.120
The Australian Government continues to streamline the university and vocational education programs. The Committee feels that this work will go a long way to addressing issues around bachelor degrees discussed above and encouraging adaptable graduates.
3.121
The un-capping of tertiary education places was aimed at increasing participation, improving equity and applying more stringent regulation to academic standards. The increased opportunities by un-capping university undergraduate courses should be just as accessible to those undertaking sub-bachelor courses.
3.122
The Committee was heartened with the Australian Government’s decision, announced as a budget measure on 9 May 2017, to allow students, who don't already have tertiary qualifications, to access Commonwealth Supported Places for sub-bachelor courses. The Committee broadly supports this measure but notes the concerns of the Victorian TAFE Association quoted above and looks forward to seeing more detail on the proposed measure. The Committee therefore recommends that any access, for students who don't already have tertiary qualifications, to Commonwealth Supported Places for sub-bachelor courses be applied equally to TAFEs and universities.
3.123
The Committee recommends that access for Commonwealth Supported Places for sub-bachelor courses be applied in a way that disadvantages neither the University or VET sector.
3.124
The Committee is pleased to see that the demand driven system is working. It notes criticism that this has not worked well enough to deliver the technical skills that individuals and the nation require for innovation and creativity and agrees that businesses has a role in advising students of employment and work opportunities.
3.125
The Committee sees a time where, for example, business students, will develop a relationship with their university over many years rather than three. They will learn subjects as they feel they are needed, alternating between work and study as career and personal circumstances allow.
3.126
The Committee supports greater flexibility in the course design of the VET sectors. It supports innovation in course design that would promote a multi-disciplinary focus, while ensuring the quality of core units.
3.127
The Committee sees that curricula in the VET sphere is constantly updating. Evidence from NRMA that there are changes in a motor vehicle every 23 seconds bears this out.
3.128
While the Committee does not view the 18 month lag time for introducing a new VET course as an insurmountable problem, it is important that the regulatory agencies are responsive to provider’s needs, while ensuring appropriate quality controls are in place. However, the Committee recommends that course accreditation should be streamlined with a 12 month benchmark for course accreditation.
3.129
The Committee recommends a 12 month benchmark for accreditation of new courses.
3.130
Noting this, the Committee sees a future where there will be, as close as possible to real time curricula to reflect skills needed. That is, rather than the current timeframes and lengthy regulatory and consultative process, there will be a much quicker and more responsive curricula.
3.131
Obviously this cannot be done overnight. There needs to be a real time awareness of innovation with a series of ‘nudges’ or incremental changes pushing the regulatory environment in the direction outlined above.
3.132
The Committee recommends that ASQA and training package designers move towards real time curricula development; allowing real-time course updates that reflect the rapidly changing skill requirements in the workforce.
3.133
The Committee recommends that ASQA and training package designers move towards real time curricula development; allowing real-time course updates that reflect the rapidly changing skill requirements in the workforce.
3.134
The Committee recommends that Skills Service Organisations:
require STEM skills to be explicitly assessed in all STEM related VET qualifications;
require VET providers to explicitly assess students’ development of STEM skills in all relevant qualifications;
require Vocational Education and Training providers to explicitly assess students’ development of soft skills such as effective communication, team work and problem solving in all relevant qualifications; and,
require VET providers to link the competencies developed in certificate IV, diploma and other VET qualifications to corresponding bachelor degrees.
3.135
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government support VET and University providers to design and deliver STEM bridging courses required for VET students switching to tertiary STEM degrees.