Review of Australian higher education: final report [Bradley review]

Abstract

Higher education will clearly be a major contributor to the development of a skilled Australian workforce but must address the rights of all citizens to share in its benefits. This review was established to address the question of whether this critical sector of education is structured, organised and financed to position Australia to compete effectively in the new globalised economy. The panel has concluded that, while the system has great strengths, it faces significant, emerging threats which require decisive action. To address these, major reforms are recommended to the financing and regulatory frameworks for higher education. Key reforms are to increase the number of university graduates by more than one-third and to determine university funding according to student demand using a voucher system. Recommendations affecting the vocational education and training (VET) sector include that: (1) VET and higher education providers should continue to enhance pathways for students through the development and implementation of common terminology and graded assessment in the upper levels of VET; (2) the Australian government negotiate with the states and territories to expand the national regulatory and quality assurance agency to cover the entire tertiary sector (including VET and higher education) and that the government assume full responsibility for the regulation of tertiary education and training in Australia by 2010; (3) the Australian government negotiate with the states and territories to introduce a tertiary entitlement funding model across higher education and VET commencing with the upper levels of VET (diplomas and advanced diplomas) and progressing to the other levels as soon as practicable; (4) the government negotiate with the states and territories to extend income contingent loans to students enrolled in VET diplomas and advanced diplomas; and (5) the Australian government and the governments of the states and territories agree to: establish a single ministerial council with responsibility for all tertiary education and training; improve the scope and coordination of labour market intelligence so that it covers the whole tertiary sector and supports a more responsive and dynamic role for both VET and higher education; and expand the purpose and role of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) so that it covers the whole tertiary sector.

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