Public backs business plan to end imbalance in tertiary education

A plan to make tertiary education more responsive to the needs of students and employers has received a warm public ­reception.

Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott. Picture: Gary Ramage.

The Business Council of Australia plan to reshape tertiary education and make it more responsive to the needs of students and employers has received a warm public ­reception, according to BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott.

In a speech on Monday night at the University of NSW in Sydney, Ms Westacott said that while many universities were resisting the BCA plan, “what was really ­interesting was the response I got from the general public”.

“I received letters and emails from parents, workers and people who had worked in the (education) sector saying the country was crying out for a reform like this,” she said.

“People would call the office or stop me in the street to tell me about their kids and how they had made the wrong (education) choices. People really care about this and want to see change.”

The BCA plan, called Future-Proof, aims to remedy the imbalance that has seen post-school students flock to the better-­funded higher education sector at the expense of the funding-starved vocational education sector. It proposes that every Australian would have an education entitlement, called a Lifelong Skills Account, to use for vocational or higher education, both after finishing school and throughout their career.

It also proposes that comprehensive information be available to students about courses, what they cost, government loan ­repayments and the jobs that courses lead to. It also would encourage the growth of “micro-credentials”, short courses that teach a specific work skill at the time somebody needs it for their employment.

Although the BCA plan is ­opposed by the university representative group, Universities Australia, Ms Westacott said individual universities had been willing to have an open dialogue about the Future-Proof plan.

She specifically thanked UNSW, the University of Western Australia, Bond University, the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney and the Group of Eight universities as a whole for engaging with the BCA about its proposal.

But she said “strange feedback” had come from other universities. “Comments along the lines of not liking what we proposed, but not proposing an alternative,” Ms Westacott said.

After her speech, Western Sydney University vice-chancellor Barney Glover thanked the BCA for “being willing to stand up and talk about post-secondary education … in an evidence-based way”. “I think at times we see an over-reaction from the (higher education) sector,” he said.

Ms Westacott also said she was disappointed that the BCA plan was seen by some as an attack on university funding.

“We know our universities are vital to both our economic and ­social progress, and we support them,” she said.

But she said she was disappointed by the attitude of some in the university sector who gave only conditional backing to solving the problems of the vocational education sector — as long as “there is no impact on us”.

“I consider it immoral to make yourself better off at someone else’s expense. The two sectors impact on each other, they need to work as one system to ensure both can thrive.”