VET & TAFE
campusreview.com.au
SUMMARY FINDINGS AQF 5/6
Course
analysis
What to make
of AQF levels
5 and 6.
By Craig Fowler
T
his article examines Australian
Qualification Framework (AQF)
levels 5 and 6 and the overlap
between VET diploma and above and higher
education (HE) sub-bachelor courses. The
ambitious questions being asked are:
• What is the quantum of private investment,
public subsidy and financing by all
governments (including longer-term costs
to government of any unpaid loans) on
both sides of the VET/HE AQF 5/6 ‘divide’?
• Does choice of course and costs drive
student behaviour?
• What are the educational, skills and
employment benefits to students and
employers?
These are important policy questions, and
they are relevant to employers who expect
both discipline knowledge and technical
skills in the graduates they employ. It is also
the junction point with pathways between
the sectors.
While the explanations below fall short of
the stated ambition, current evidence and
pertinent issues are summarised. A link to
the full version of this article is available at
CampusReview.com.au.
24
Enrolment numbers and fields of education
Although total enrolments in publicly
funded/financed AQF 5/6 VET diplomas and
above are greater in number than AQF 5/6
HE sub-bachelor enrolments, recent trends
show VET diplomas are in sharp decline, with
the close of VET FEE-HELP and tight controls
on courses/costs/providers under the VET
Student Loans program. While domestic
enrolments in VET diplomas are sharply
declining, international enrolments in VET
diplomas are increasing, being near half of
all international VET enrolments, with the
majority from China and with most students
intending to go on to HE study.
There is evidence of sustained yet modest
growth in domestic HE sub-bachelor
enrolments with enrolments in 2016 of
similar but less number to those reported
under VET Student Loans for 2017.
HE and VET AQF 5/6 providers similarly
promote the educational and work-skill
benefits of their courses. There are overlaps
in enrolments by Field of Education (FoE).
‘Management and commerce’ and ‘society
and culture’ dominate in both HE (associate
degree, diplomas) and VET enrolments
(diploma and above). ‘Health’ (e.g. nursing),
‘education’ and ‘creative arts’ show the next
highest enrolments and overlaps. ‘Natural
sciences’ dominate in HE enrolments, while
‘food hospitality and personal services’ is
near exclusive to VET.
Student views and surveys
Evidence from graduate surveys shows
firmer distinctions in students’ reasons for
study. VET diploma students state work-
related reasons for subject enrolments
(‘get a better job’, ‘needed for work’, ‘get
promoted’), and as graduates generally rate
work benefits of VET training higher than HE
diploma graduates, VET diplomas (AQF 5) are
built more overtly for vocational purposes.
HE diploma graduates by contrast tend
to see their qualification as less relevant
to employment, and rather as providing
pathways to higher academic learning,
or other professional pursuits such as
foreign languages.
That said, students use both VET and HE
AQF 5/6 courses as effective pathways to
higher AQF studies.
Institutional promotion and marketing
The overall pitch and rhetoric by universities
in presenting the benefits of sub-bachelor
programs are much the same as those long
espoused by VET providers. Universities have
greater marketing power in offering sub-
bachelor courses compared with training
providers offering VET diplomas in a similar
FoE. This is for reasons of perceived prestige
and pathways which in some cases lead
into the second year of bachelor degree
study. Universities also have the ability to
‘self‑accredit’ courses and have preferred
funding/financing arrangements.
Some 36 institutions were identified as
straddling the VET/HE boundary: that is,
registered as both HE provider and approved
VET Student Loan provider. These institutions
comprised 12 universities (including dual
sector) and 11 TAFEs.
Collaboration and pathways
Where there are student pathways straddling
VET and HE AQF 5/6, these typically have
been cooperatively negotiated ‘ground
up’ between institutions, not facilitated by
national policy ‘top down’. Examples of
collaborative local and regional solutions
take time and resources to create.
Where universities (dual sector or their
colleges) are approved as VET Student Loan
providers and have grant contracts for HE
sub-bachelor ‘designated places’, they have
the potential benefit of two student entry
pathways, both at AQF 5/6, and can also
decide requirements for student entry into
AQF 7 levels. Universities also have access
to HEPPP funding to improve access by
students from low SES backgrounds.
Public funding and financing – VET
Public funding and financing of VET AQF
5/6 courses is complex, being the sum
of (unknown) state/territory government
subsidies of VET diplomas and higher-level
VET qualifications, as well as Australian
government-financed VET Student Loans
(some with state/territory subsidy), plus the
uncertain future costs to governments of any
unpaid loans.
The amount paid to course providers in
respect of VET Student Loans approved for
students studying eligible courses in 2017
was over $200 million (full-year 2017). Of the
211 approved course providers (at May 2018),
155 providers had students who accessed a
VET Student Loan in 2017, with there being in
total 42,220 loan-assisted students.
Students may enrol on a full-fee-for-
service basis and trigger a 20 per cent loan
fee if they borrow for such a purpose. If their
enrolment is (minimally) subsidised by a state
or territory government there is no loan fee,
but conversely were a student’s employer to
pay such a subsidy, a loan fee still applies.