Skills ministers call on universities and TAFE colleges to fuse academic study with technical know-how

Students will blend university ­degrees with on-the-job technical training under fundamental reforms being forged by the nation’s training ministers.

Students will be encouraged to combine university and vocational training in new-age degrees. ​

Students will blend university ­degrees with on-the-job technical training under fundamental reforms being forged by the nation’s training ministers.

As the federal government launches its Universities Accord, federal Skills and Training ­Minister Brendan O’Connor on Tuesday called for greater collaboration between universities and vocational training providers, such as TAFE (technical and further education) colleges.

Skills ministers from every state and territory were discussing the need to merge “skills with knowledge”, as part of a five-year funding deal that aims to modernise the training system and extend fee-free TAFE, he said.

“We’ve had a delineation of the two tertiary sectors for too long without enough collaboration,’’ Mr O’Connor said.

“Look around internationally and you see a lot more permeability between the two sectors, where students go from one to the other. And in some countries, significant proportions of what would be TAFE students here, once they’ve done their course, often will … take up a university subject or even a degree.’’

Mr O’Connor said he was working closely with federal Education Minister Jason Clare, who is reforming university funding, teaching and research through the government’s Universities Accord.

“I know he’s exploring innovative ways to see how you encourage people to enrol, and how do you get them to finish their courses, when there’s desperate demand for those skills,’’ he said.

Mr O’Connor said modern workers needed to combine “conceptual and technical knowledge’’. In Europe, it was common for workers with technical and trade skills to go on to university, or for university graduates to attend vocational training centres to learn hands-on skills, he said.

“You see people at university learning technical skills,’’ he said.

Skills ministers wanted to ensure “greater collaboration’’ between federally funded universities and state-run TAFE.

“We’re talking about how we ensure there’s greater collaboration so that we see the best possible options available for people who are learning conceptual and technical knowledge,’’ he said.

“(That is) understanding how things work, but also having the technical capacity to carry them out. That collaboration, that greater level of co-operation in the tertiary sector, VET and universities, is absolutely critical for the future of our economy.’’

Mr O’Connor has been examining the tertiary education systems in Switzerland and Germany. Linking educational excellence to economic growth and productivity, he said Australia needed a “knowledgeable and skilful’’ workforce to protect “the quality of life we’ve grown to accept’’.

Ministers were negotiating an extension of the popular “fee-free’’ TAFE next year, he said.

The federal government has given the states and territories an extra $1.9bn this year to provide free TAFE coursesin high-demand courses, such as childcare, nursing, the electrical trades and cyber security. The intervention – which will save students $2000-$10,000 in tuition fees – follows a 4 per cent drop in students enrolling in TAFE courses last year.

Mr O’Connor said governments wanted to offer more free TAFE courses, but were still deliberating over funding.

Queensland Training and Skills Development Minister Di Farmer said free TAFE was helping students struggling with the rising cost of living. “It is the difference between many people choosing training or not … and having a career path in the future,’’ she said.

The ministers were meeting some of the 1442 “new energy’’ apprentices who began work this year after the federal government gave them up to $10,000 to help with cost-of-living pressures.