Howard backs links to TAFE

JOHN Howard has opened a new front in the education debate by coming out in favour of closer links between universities and TAFE.

PRIME Minister John Howard has opened a new front in the education debate by coming out strongly in favour of closer links between universities and TAFE.

Already higher education institutions facing a diminishing supply of eligible students are turning to TAFE as an important source of growth.

That approach received the Prime Minister's backing yesterday when he sketched a post-election vision of "a future where vocational and university campuses could sit side by side, with flexibility for students to move between them to access the mix of courses and skills they need".

Earlier this week the Minister for Vocational Education and Training, Andrew Robb, promised that the Coalition Government, if re-elected, would pursue reform to make TAFE more responsive to market needs.

Under threat of redirecting funding to private providers, the foreshadowed assault on the states' bureaucratic stranglehold was meant to deliver TAFE greater autonomy and self-governance.

The Prime Minister yesterday reiterated that state governments "must also do more to unshackle the TAFE sector so it can provide the flexible and responsive solutions that employers and workers need".

His stance drew support from Swinburne University vice-chancellor Ian Young, who said TAFEs should be used as preparatory institutions while universities dug deeper into less academically qualified student cohorts to maintain numbers.

"One of the real challenges for Australian higher education is that we are running out of higher education students and we are continuing to expand the system," Professor Young said.

"The reality is you are going to get more and more people going to unis lower and lower down the scores."

Professor Young said there was a risk of "turning universities into remedial institutions".

"(Students) should go to some preparatory institutions before university, and the federal Government should actually fund them."

TAFE was the logical place, Professor Young said: it would be "foolish" to create another layer of education for the purpose.

Earlier this year Central Queensland University signalled its interest in becoming a dual-sector institution, though vice-chancellor John Rickard declined to elaborate to the HES this week. Other universities are setting up regional campuses in existing TAFE facilities so they can become "one-stop shops".

Shared facilities, more articulation pathways and courses that offer a combination of higher and vocational education are all part of universities' efforts to build stronger TAFE links.

The numbers of students going from TAFE to university courses has jumped significantly, from 7per cent of all undergraduates in 2001 to 10 per cent in 2005.

The dual-sector option has become even more inviting as students are not only going from TAFE to university, but the skills shortage is fuelling a jump in uni graduates going on to TAFE.

TAFE Directors Australia chief executive Martin Riordan said the growth in links had accelerated during the past 18 months as universities realised the opportunities offered by TAFE's close ties to industry.

"More than 40 per cent of Australian companies have some sort of relationship with the training sector," he said.

"Universities are realising there is a great deal of currency to be had working with TAFE institutions."

Mr Riordan said demand for vocational education had risen to 1.68 million students in 2006 and the number of students going back to vocational education after university was also on the rise. "It's becoming more of a two-way street," he said.

Associate professor Louise Watson, from the University of Canberra's education faculty, said regional universities suffering from the demographic decline were already taking more TAFE students. Victoria University vice-chancellor Elizabeth Harman said the dual-sector institution had recorded a dramatic rise in the number of university graduates going on to TAFE courses, and TAFE graduates moving into degrees.

"The numbers have doubled between 2005 and 2006 ... (with) an extra 1000 students in 2007," she said.

"We have a chance to offer business and students a set of offerings that single institutions don't have."

Latrobe University pro vice-chancellor Bob Goddard said the university co-located with some regional TAFEs and was setting up more campuses with TAFEs in Wangaratta, Seymour and Swan Hill.

He said the advantages of working with TAFE included another source of students from TAFE Pathways and the cash savings made by sharing staff and facilities in regional locations.

University of Ballarat vice-chancellor David Battersby said: "The model is a superb one ... and particularly attractive for regional universities."

University of Tasmania vice-chancellor Daryl Le Grew said reforms of the state's education system meant the university would have closer links to the new "polytechnics", which would combine TAFE and senior secondary school vocational training.

"More Year 12 students are thinking about going directly into the workforce and taking a gap year," he said.

"We have to think about broadening our entry ports and new ways of bringing them in."

Swinburne is a dual-sector institution. After doing a two-year TAFE diploma, students who left school with a TER of 50 typically entered the university stream with 1 1/2 years' advanced standing, performing at the level of students who came with a TER of 85, Professor Young said.

"The value add is from 50 to 85, simply through the act of going through the pathway," he said.