Universities Accord: Fast-track courses for those with real-world experience

Skilled workers would be fast-tracked through university degrees under Universities Accord reforms to slash study time for students with real-world experience.

Education Minister Jason Clare. Picture: Liam Kidston

Skilled workers would be fast-tracked through university degrees under Universities Accord reforms to slash study time for students with real-world experience.

Paid on-the-job placements have also been recommended for university students studying degrees such as medicine, nursing and teaching.

The accord calls for “fast, stackable and portable’’ qualifications and skills to be listed in a new “skills passport’’ for workers to demonstrate their qualifications to employers.

“Traditional degree qualifications do not always supply graduates with all the skills they need,’’ the accord report states.

“A model of linear progression mainly through three and four-year degree programs is not sufficient to support the growing demand to update and refresh skills through a working lifetime.’’

The accord warns of a shortage of graduates across many professions, with employers reporting only half the applicants for professional jobs are fully qualified.

It suggests redesigning degrees to recognise “competencies and prior experience, instead of meeting mandatory minimum hours of practise’’.

“(This could) accelerate completions and free up training and placement opportunities.

“In some fields, the use of pre-vocational roles, cadetships or extended clinical training blocks could integrate students more quickly into the workforce to make important contributions in their field of study.’’

The report says university students should not be “duplicating skills and learning experience they have already obtained’’, as this would waste time and money.

Championing afusion of academic learning with skills-based training, the accord panel has called for consistent public funding of the university and vocational training sectors.

The accord will examine the concept of Co-operative Skills Centres to link universities with vocational training, such as TAFE, and industry to develop new skills and qualification pathways in priority areas such as energy.

It also calls for Commonwealth Supported Places – the annual public funding for a university course, averaging $11,000 a year – to be extended to some TAFE courses. And it supports “degree apprenticeships’’ that combine university study with paid employment and work-based learning.

“A growing range of providers are also developing and trialling the use of cadetships and work-based learning programs that combine work-based learning with study and bring together elements of both higher and vocational education course designs,’’ it states.

The accord wants universities to promote “lifelong learning’’, as workers use short “micro-credentials’’ to upskill or switch careers.

“There is a growing need for people to update and refresh their skills,’’ the report argues.

“Over the next two decades, Australian workers will change jobs an estimated 2.4 times, and it is estimated that tasks within Australian jobs will change by 18 per cent every decade.

“Higher education will need to provide multiple entry and exit points that allow people to develop skills and build to recognised ­credentials or qualifications in a modular, more ‘stackable’ way.’’

The accord calls on universities to offer more short courses, cadetships, associate degrees and diplomas, as well as traditional three-year degrees.

“There is substantial merit in shorter, formally recognised qualifications that can provide upskilling opportunities for people, and which can also articulate into longer qualifications if people wish,’’ the report states.

“The review supports the idea of a national skills passport to help graduates impress their qualifications upon employers, become more employable and achieve ­career progression’’.

The accord suggests students who drop out part-way through a long degree be awarded an undergraduate certificate, so they do not leave without any qualification.

“Undergraduate certificates can be awarded as an exit qualification for people who have completed the requirements of quali­fication nested within a longer course of study,’’ the report states.