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Opinion: Students and industry have
been well served by competitive
VET, and policy should focus
on refining these reforms.
By Rod Camm
I
t has been, to say the least, an interesting year for the VET sector.
It kicked off with the Senate inquiry into private VET providers in
Australia. While the agenda was pretty clear, I must say that apart
from some predictable trashing of private providers, the inquiry’s
recommendations regarding VET FEE-HELP, released a few weeks
ago, were mostly reasonable and justified.
While the great majority of providers have delivered quality
training, the behaviour of a small minority and their brokers and
agents has been unacceptable. It’s also clear, however, that there
have been program design and implementation flaws that the
government has neglected for too long.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham, on assuming
responsibility for the skills portfolio in September, quickly
recognised these flaws and developed a raft of reforms. The
important thing now is for the government to step up and deal with
the widespread concerns.
ACPET supports the government’s reforms to VET FEE-HELP,
which are subject to a Senate inquiry. The measures to stop the upfront payment of tuition fees should prevent many of the unethical
practices, including amongst brokers and agents. It’s also pleasing to
see the government is going to lift the bar on provider performance
and outcomes. However, this is where the program fell down on
inception. Government should have ensured only quality providers
with a sound track record in education accessed this important reform.
It is fair to say they failed this test where providers with no history or
reputation went straight to the top of the class. Contestability doesn’t
mean a hands-off approach by governments and regulators.
In its submission to the Senate inquiry, ACPET has recommended
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the government go further and regulate brokers and their fees,
introduce a national training ombudsman and review the pricing and
student contribution arrangements for VET FEE-HELP.
Of course, some people have used the problems with
VET FEE-HELP to argue for the winding-back of contestability
and other market reforms that have been implemented over the
last 20 years or more. This is opportunistic and unwarranted; the
outcomes of the reforms and performance of the sector have been
mostly strong.
Industry satisfaction remains high, with well over 80 per cent of
students in government-funded training in 2014 satisfied with the
overall quality of their training. Similarly, in 2014, more than 80 per
cent of employers were satisfied their apprentices and trainees
were obtaining the skills they required. This is 3 percentage points
higher than 2013 an X