Higher education groups are keen to be covered by the government’s new Jobs and Skills Australia agency – very wise, they will need to be where the action is

In a major statement of support for a national focus on training, the peak union council and major business groups have called for VET to be “a core part of our workforce development strategy and properly integrated into our overall tertiary education and training system.”

Ahead of the government’s Jobs and Skills summit, the ACTU, with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australian Industry Group and Business Council of Australia state, “VET is at the foundation of our broader skills system and needs to be a core part of our workforce development strategy and properly integrated into our overall tertiary education and training system.”

They call for apprenticeships and “other on-the-job training, to be “reinvigorated, expanded, adapted and supported to meet workforce needs now and into the future, including in digital skills.”

They also urge “a real and sustained funding increase” for VET and apprenticeships and traineeships, a life-long learning strategy, including digital skills and they join the chorus of acclamation for JSA to be established.

Universities are not mentioned.