Structures in tertiary education and training: a kaleidoscope or merely fragments? Research readings NATIONAL CENTRE FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH Edited by Francesca Beddie Laura O’Connor Penelope Curtin Structures in tertiary education and training: a kaleidoscope or merely fragments? Research readings Edited by Francesca Beddie Laura O’Connor Penelope Curtin NATIONAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING RESEARCH PROGRAM RESEARCH READINGS The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author/ project team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government or state and territory governments. Any interpretation of data is the responsibility of the author/project team. © Commonwealth of Australia, 2013 With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the Department’s logo, any material protected by a trade mark and where otherwise noted all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia <creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au> licence. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for the CC BY 3.0 AU licence <creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode>. The Creative Commons licence conditions do not apply to all logos, graphic design, artwork and photographs. Requests and enquiries concerning other reproduction and rights should be directed to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). This document should be attributed as Beddie, F, O’Connor, L & Curtin, P (eds) 2013, Structures in tertiary education and training: a kaleidoscope or merely fragments? Research readings, NCVER, Adelaide. COVER IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES/THINKSTOCK ISBN 978 1 922056 50 4 TD/TNC 112.03 Published by NCVER, ABN 87 007 967 311 Level 11, 33 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000 PO Box 8288 Station Arcade, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia P +61 8 8230 8400 F +61 8 8212 3436 E [email protected] W <www.ncver.edu.au> About the research Structures in tertiary education and training: a kaleidoscope or merely fragments? Research readings Editors: Francesca Beddie, Laura O’Connor and Penelope Curtin In June 2010 the Standing Council on Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment (SCOTESE) adopted a new set of national research priorities in tertiary education and training for the period 2011 to 2013. One of these pointed to the need to better understand structures in the system by examining the impact of policy, funding and market frameworks on the provision of education and training. Since very few researchers have investigated these issues, the National Centre for Vocational Education research (NCVER) decided to commission essays on various aspects of the topic. We hoped to throw light on the structures in the evolving tertiary education system and to take forward debate about the current wave of reform. The authors and four discussants came together with other leaders in the system in November 2012 to talk about the essays. Given the complexity of these issues, it is quite difficult to distil the discussions into a few simple messages. Nevertheless, some of the key points were: . A common understanding of the dynamics of the system is not easy to reach. We are still not all talking about the same thing when we refer to tertiary education. There is little support for a single integrated tertiary education sector. If there is a consensus it is that variety within the sector is a good thing. While the language of markets has been adopted in the reform effort, we need to be clear we are talking about a very unusual market, both in terms of its ‘product’ and its ‘customers’. In fact, there is a dispute over who is the customer of the vocational education and training (VET) system — the individual student or the employers who ultimately employ those that the system educates and trains. Even within the sectors, there is not always consensus on definitions. This is notably the case when discussing the meaning of ‘vocation’ and the shape of competency-based training. To establish the underpinnings and value of each part of the system, we need greater clarity about the purpose of public funding, as well as a clear alignment between funding regimes and policy objectives. The issue is who should pay for what. Many pillars of the system can be strengthened. How institutions are governed, and how the workforce is organised and the system regulated require further thought. The extent of institutional autonomy is a key element. While this exercise could never determine the ideal structures for tertiary education and training, it has been invaluable in teasing out the complexity of tertiary education. It also makes clear there is no simple ‘market design’ that would meet all the objectives of the various elements of Australia’s tertiary education system. Tom Karmel Managing Director, NCVER Contents Contributors 6 Overview — Francesca Beddie 10 How educational matters influence structures in the system 15 The public good — Sharon Bell 16 What makes education ‘vocational’ in an integrated tertiary sector — Steven Hodge 26 The future of the tertiary sector workforce: a kaleidoscope of possibilities? — Michele Simons 36 Discussion: How educational matters influence structures in the system — Kwong Lee Dow 48 Who controls the system? 59 Education as an industry, and as a product — John Quiggin 60 The drivers of industry involvement in VET reform — Richard Jenkins & Ian Curry 69 Innovation and industry best practice: why industry skills councils are critical — Robert Dalitz and Di Dibley 83 Discussion: Who controls the system? — Robin Shreeve 90 Governance of the system in a competitive environment 97 How do providers respond to changes in structures in a period of reform? — Kerry Brown 98 Mismatched gears — how federal arrangements hinder the integration of the tertiary education sector — John Ross 108 A precipitate proposal — a participant’s view of structural discussions in post-secondary education — Adrian Marron 119 The strategic impact of industrial relations among tertiary education providers — Damian Oliver 132 Discussion: Governance of the system in a competitive environment — Jonathan Pincus 143 Interactions with the system 155 Student choice between VET and university — Yijuan Chen and Juergen Meinecke 156 What role does price play in student behaviour? — Michael Coelli 167 Regulating for learning in the tertiary education system — Valerie Braithwaite and Sue Fergusson 179 Discussion: Interactions with the system — Jeff Borland 190 NVETR Program funding 197 NCVER 5 Contributors Editors Ms Francesca Beddie is a consultant and former General Manager, Research, at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), with a strong interest in the intersection of research and public policy. She has previously been employed as a diplomat, with postings in Indonesia, Russia and Germany. From 1995 to 1998 she was a senior officer in the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), where she headed the agency’s policy development and public affairs areas. Francesca has also worked as a policy and media consultant and trainer, historian and editor. From 2002 to 2004, Francesca was the executive director of Adult Learning Australia. She has served on the ABC Advisory Council and on the Australian Press Council and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Ms Penelope Curtin is a freelance editor and writer who has worked on NCVER publications for the past 25 years. She has previously been an arts administrator and a bookshop proprietor. Ms Laura O’Connor manages and coordinates research projects at NCVER, where she has worked for over five years. Of the many different projects in which she has been involved, Laura is particularly interested in the impact of structural reforms on the student experience and understanding the various pathways which exist within the education system. Other contributors Professor Sharon Bell is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Charles Darwin University, a Professorial Fellow at the LH Martin Institute and Emeritus Professor at the University of Wollongong. She was Co-convenor of Universities Australia Executive Women (previously Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee Senior Women’s Colloquium), 2005—08. Sharon holds a PhD from the University of Sydney in the discipline of anthropology. She has worked with international agencies such as the World Bank, the Sri Lankan University Grants Commission and AusAID on institutional capacity-building projects. She is currently a recipient of an Australian Research Council Grant on Women in the Scientific Research Workforce. Professor Jeff Borland teaches in the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne and was head of the department from 2003 to 2006. He has previously held positions at the Centre for Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University, the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1997 he was awarded the Australian Academy of Social Sciences Medal for Excellence in Scholarship in the Social Sciences, and in 2002 was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Jeff’s main research interests are the operation of labour markets in Australia, program and policy evaluation and design, Australian economic history, and the economics of sport. Professor Valerie Braithwaite works in the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University. A psychologist by training, her work advances