by CLAIRE FIELD

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency conference was on last week

 Braden Hill, DVC at ECU, gave a stunning address to close the conference – challenging the sector to think differently about equity, noting that the disadvantage faced by First Nations’ students starts in school, and arguing passionately and persuasively that equity is not an endpoint but “a journey towards a fairer future.”

 TAFE SA CEO, David Coltman, was equally passionate and persuasive as he outlined how he and his team rebuilt TAFE SA’s reputation by focussing on educational excellence, including:

* requiring trainers and assessors to hold additional credentials

* introducing a staff capability framework (based on the Innovation Business Skills Australia VET Practitioner Capability Framework)

*   reviewing 100 of their 400 courses every year, and

* introducing controls so that courses cannot be offered if staff lack appropriate qualifications or assessment tasks are not available.

Putting those controls in place in a large organisation, in the media spotlight, during two changes of government at the state-level in four years, makes TAFE SA’s achievements even more noteworthy.

 Glyn Davis’ keynote address was a show stopper as he argued persuasively for greater institutional diversity in the public university sector. He pointed out Australia’s public universities are some of the largest in the OECD and argued against adding more students. Instead, he contended Australia should look at new models including teaching-only universities, graduate-only universities, and other models. Given his previous university leadership roles and his current position as the head of the public service, his words carry enormous weight. His speech was clearly intended to lay the groundwork for the kind of substantial reform the government expects to see the higher education Accord tackle.

 Finally, Peter Hendy from Independent Higher Education Australia reminded the sector of two outstanding recommendations from the Bradley Review which he argued should be progressed in the Accord deliberations:

* a single national tertiary education regulator, and

* student-centred funding i.e. Commonwealth Supported Places funding and HECS loans for students irrespective of the higher education provider they study with.

He also made the case for mutual recognition – whereby all dual-sector providers registered by TEQSA should not need a separate registration process through ASQA!

In the context of these looming changes within the sector I was pleased to interview Wendy Palmer, Director Global Studio at Deakin University, on the podcast, about the innovations they have introduced for both domestic and TNE students.

 Claire Field is an advisor to the tertiary education sector and host of the ‘What now? What next?’ podcast.