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 ¡°¡± 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.¡±

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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.¡±

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Karmel¡¯s observations echo those in a 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??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.

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¡°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.¡±

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john.ross@timeshighereducation.com