Universities steamrolling the ‘equity sector’, paper warns

Vocational education is Australia’s “equity sector”, educating disproportionately high shares of students from disadvantaged, regional, Indigenous and non-English-speaking communities. Yet it is being crowded out by a higher education sector that enjoys favourable funding and regulatory settings, a new paper argues.

The Mackenzie Research Institute “snapshot” says the solution to educational disadvantage rests with vocational education and training (VET). “It is VET institutions which are best placed to lift tertiary educational participation, not universities,” argues the paper by institute director Tom Karmel.

“[Yet] the idea that VET is a genuine alternative to higher education is becoming harder to sustain. From the point of view of a school-leaver, VET is only a viable alternative to higher education for a minority of students.”

The paper finds that commencing student numbers in VET have mostly been declining since 2011, notwithstanding an “upturn” after Covid-19. “By contrast, higher education commencements have generally been increasing.”

This is partly because higher education attracts about 50 per cent more funding per student, mainly thanks to tuition fees paid upfront through government-backed income-contingent loans. Universities receive around A$20,000 (£9,770) per full-time student compared with about A$13,000 at government-funded vocational colleges or TAFEs.

Degrees are “usurping” vocational diplomas, which provide “little competition” for bachelor’s qualifications. “Regulatory trends inevitably will support bachelor degrees rather than VET qualifications,” the paper says. “This is putting the ‘top end’ of VET at risk.”

Karmel’s observations echo those in a Tertiary Harmonisation Roadmap published by advisory body Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA). It argued for “game-changing reform of tertiary education” through “the strategic alignment” of VET and higher education.

This would particularly involve “drawing on the strengths of VET in driving skills development and growth in productivity”, JSA argued. Priority recommendations included the extension of higher education teaching grants to TAFEs.

The proposals ruffled feathers at Universities Australia. “Vocational education and the jobs that flow from it are vital to our economy…but our universities must receive equal attention and support,” chief executive Luke Sheehy told the National Press Club. “I don’t think this is necessarily the case right now.”

Bill Shorten, vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, warned that “some of the university lunch is being eaten by TAFE”. He said the federal government’s bankrolling of fee-free TAFE places was shepherding potential higher education students into VET.

“Changes happen more quickly than [universities’] decision-making structures allow us to respond,” Shorten told a conference hosted by the Future Campus news site. “TAFE has won an argument…that if you want to meet a skill shortage, use TAFE. No one thinks that you can breach short-term skill shortages by going to university.”

But Karmel says VET’s courses are outdated and its “clientele” declining. “VET has never been that attractive to school-leavers and is even less so these days,” because its curriculum is arranged around the incorrect assumption that most of its students have not completed the final years of school.

“To get tertiary education participation rates back on an upward trajectory we should build educational institutions that offer a genuine alternative to the research-focused universities…a practically orientated institution which offers qualifications from certificates to bachelor degrees,” Karmel’s paper says.

“These types of institutions are likely to appeal to those from equity groups, including men, who would favour a practical rather than academic orientation.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com