Blog: How VET and Universities Are Joining Forces To Skill Up Our Nation’s Workers
Written by Cara Jenkin
Australia is taking a new approach to tertiary education so workers can gain more skills throughout their careers to keep up with what’s needed.
The approach will require easier pathways to be created between the university and vocational education and training (VET) sectors.
The two styles of tertiary education have long been seen as separate avenues to pursue skills for work, with higher education/universities offering academic careers and VET offering practical careers.
However, the Australian Government has recognised an either/or approach is not working and students and workers can gain many benefits if the two work better together.
In the 2024/25 Budget, it invested $27.7 million over four years in a range of initiatives to drive harmonisation between the higher education and vocational education and training sectors.
It is in response to recommendations outlined in the Australian Universities Accord Final Report, released in February 2024 by the Department of Education.
It reveals Australia is not meeting its current skills needs – and will not meet them in the future, unless more university and VET graduates are produced.
The report outlines a new target for the working age population, lifting the current target rate of those who hold at least one certificate III qualification or higher from 60% to at least 80% by 2050.
However, it also suggests Australians need not stop after obtaining one qualification, with the report highlighting lifelong learning is required for all Australians to reskill and upskill during their working life.
To do so, both the higher education and VET sectors need to grow substantially as well as work more closely together, the report states.
“Increasing participation and attainment is not just about what people do during the career-building momentum of the post-school years but throughout their working lives as they return to education to reskill and upskill,” it says.
Microcredentials and short courses are also part of the plan as well as providing qualifications such as associate degrees and diplomas to university students who withdraw from a degree, recognising they have obtained skills during their study.
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THE EXISTING PATHWAYS
Vocational students already can move from VET to university to increase their qualification level if they wish but the pathway is not necessarily seamless.
The Centre for Independent Studies reports as many as 67% of undergraduate university students are not school leavers, and therefore have used a different method to enter university.
The VET to uni pathway recognises that students have already obtained experience and knowledge in their field and have proved they can meet many of the requirements of formal study.
Credit transfer arrangements are also in place between universities and vocational providers. It acknowledges that via VET, the student has already learned some skills that are taught as part of university degree, enabling them to reduce the time and perhaps the cost to complete the degree.
Sometimes a place in the university degree is guaranteed, under partnerships between the vocational education and training provider and the university. This may depend on the VET course studied and the degree that the student wants to enrol in.
Other students are required to apply for their place but still receive a credit for the work they have completed.
For example, at TAFE NSW, a student who has completed a Certificate IV in Optical Dispensing can apply to enrol in a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Southern Queensland.
However, it is not always students moving from VET to university that benefit from these pathways.
National Centre for Vocational Education Research data shows in 2022, 11% of all students enrolled in VET had already completed a bachelor degree or higher qualification.
University students and graduates may also be able to gain a credit for their VET course from their previous study.
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THE BENEFITS OF DUAL SECTOR UNIVERSITIES
Currently, there are some education providers who are already blending university and VET by offering courses to students across both areas.
Typically, universities only provide bachelor degree or higher qualifications, while VET providers offer up to advanced diplomas and associate degrees.
Dual sector universities offer both university and VET courses, enabling students to continue their education through the one provider, whether they are moving from VET to university, or university to VET.
Australia has six dual-sector universities – Victoria University, Swinburne University of Technology, RMIT University, Charles Darwin University, CQ University and Federation University – that collectively have about 250,000 students enrolled.
At Victoria University, for example, via its Building, Engineering, IT & Science pathways, students who successfully complete its Diploma of Building and Construction are guaranteed entry into its Bachelor of Construction Management. They receive 144 credit points to put towards the 384 credit points required to complete the degree.
In another example, via its Education pathways, students who successfully complete its Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care are guaranteed entry into its Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Leadership degree. They receive 96 credit points to put towards the degree’s required 384 credit points.
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There are many personal reasons why students choose these pathways in addition to the ability to learn practical as well as academic skills.
Students often can work in industry-related roles – such as a childcare worker on completing VET early childhood qualifications – while studying the university qualification to become an early childhood teacher. This provides them with experience by working in the field, which is highly desired by employers, as well as an income while they are studying.
School leavers who dread the thought of more years of study before becoming qualified and are ready to hit the workforce also can complete apprenticeships and traineeships and work while they learn. Or, they can complete vocational study and be employed more quickly than taking the university route, and pursue their higher education down the track.
In future, there may be even more pathways to consider. In their submission to the Accord report, the group of dual sector universities suggest creating hybrid and work-based qualifications.
“Dual sector institutions believe there is enormous potential to design and deliver a new spectrum of hybrid and work-based qualifications for Australians of working age; that seeks to connect, blend and integrate the very best of vocational and higher education,” it states.
“With 74% of businesses expressing support for employing university or TAFE students as higher-level apprentices or cadets, dual sector institutions understand the strong appetite for new apprenticeship-style training contracts beyond the traditional trades.
“This offers real, applied learning and pedagogical benefits for students, whilst supporting employers to have ready access to workers more quickly.”
HIGHER APPRENTICESHIPS ARE EMERGING
Meanwhile, higher level apprenticeships are emerging that blends university study with on-the-job training.
Just like a trade apprentice is required to complete on-the-job training as well as a certificate III qualification, a higher level apprentice is required to learn at work while studying for a bachelor degree qualification.
For example, the Ai Group Centre for Education and Training has partnered with industry and the University of South Australia to create a degree apprenticeship in software engineering.
Under this program, apprentices complete a Bachelor of Software Engineering while working, with the apprenticeship lasting five years. The apprentice is paid for their work, completes some of their formal study on work time, and receives support from their employer to meet the cost of university training.
OTHER LIFELONG LEARNING INITIATIVES
The Australian Universities Accord Final Report also recommends the development of a National Skills Passport, which can help workers demonstrate to employers that they have the skills required for the job.
It can highlight skills obtained via recognition of prior learning (RPL) and other qualifications that can be used for credit transfer towards a higher qualification, whether they are complete qualifications or short courses.
“Australia needs to develop new and more flexible and efficient ways for individuals to attain the skills they need across their working life,” the report states.
“This will be driven through more modular, stackable and transferable qualifications that address Australia’s emerging skill needs, including microcredentials that are funded, accredited and recognised by the Australian Government.”
DISCOVER A COURSE THAT CAN HELP YOU TO UPSKILL AT MYFUTURE.EDU.AU
Cara Jenkin is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years’ experience working in the print, digital and television media. It included 10 years as the editor of NewsCorp’s Careers employment section, covering topics ranging from education and training to workplace career advice.