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Australia
Partners situated in Australia
None. However, a member of the International Advisory Committee is based in Australia.
Australia in a nutshell
Australia is a country occupying a whole continent in the southern hemisphere of considerable relevance to European policy in education.
Australia has a population of 20 million according to the CIA Factbook. It is a Commonwealth country with many links to the UK - many people and ideas in education flow to and fro between the countries, and this is true also in e-learning.
It could be argued that the relevance of Australia is mainly to the larger nations of the European Union, yet since it has a states structure as well the relevance is wider, in fact to all nations large and small.
Australia has six states, plus two major mainland territories and several minor territories including islands. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
The population of the four largest states is as follows:
- New South Wales: 6,927 million
- Victoria: 5.2 million
- Queensland: 4.2 million
- South Australia: 1.5 million
- Western Australia: 2.1 million
All other states and territories have populations each well under .5 million, and so are relevant only to microstates - with Tasmania as perhaps the most relevant due to its island situation.
Australia education policy
Education in Australia is primarily the responsibility of states and territories.
Higher Education:
The objects of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 , the current legislative basis for Australian Government funding of higher education, are:
a) to support a higher education system that:
(i) is characterised by quality, diversity and equity of access; and (ii) contributes to the development of cultural and intellectual life in Australia; and (iii) is appropriate to meet Australia’s social and economic needs for a highly educated and skilled population; and
b) to support the distinctive purposes of universities, which are:
(i) the education of persons, enabling them to take a leadership role in the intellectual, cultural, economic and social development of their communities; and (ii) the creation and advancement of knowledge; and (iii) the application of knowledge and discoveries to the betterment of communities in Australia and internationally;
recognising that universities are established under laws of the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories that empower them to achieve their objectives as autonomous institutions through governing bodies that are responsible for both the university’s overall performance and its ongoing independence; and
c) to strengthen Australia’s knowledge base, and enhance the contribution of Australia’s research capabilities to national economic development, international competitiveness and the attainment of social goals; and
d) to support students undertaking higher education.
Australia education system
Generally, education in Australia follows the three-tier model which includes primary education (primary schools), followed by secondary education (secondary schools/high schools) and tertiary education (universities and/or TAFE (Technical and Further Education Colleges)).
Education is compulsory up to an age specified by legislation; this age varies from state to state but is generally 15-17, that is prior to completing secondary education. Post-compulsory education is regulated within the Australian Qualifications Framework, a unified system of national qualifications in schools, vocational education and training (TAFE) and the higher education sector (university).
The academic year in Australia varies between states and institutions, but generally runs from late January until mid-December for primary and secondary schools and TAFE colleges, and from late February until mid-November for universities.
Pre-school
Pre-school in Australia is relatively unregulated, and is not compulsory. The first exposure many Australian children have to learn with others outside of traditional parenting is day care or a parent-run playgroup. This sort of activity is not generally considered schooling. Pre-school education is separate from primary school in all states and territories except Western Australia and Queensland, where pre-school education is taught as part of the primary school system.
Pre-schools are usually run by local councils, community groups or private organizations except in the Northern Territory and Queensland where they are run by the Territory and State Governments respectively. Pre-school is offered to three- to five-year-olds, although attendance numbers vary widely (from 50% in New South Wales to 93% in Victoria). The year before a child is due to attend primary school is the main year for pre-school education. This year is far more commonly attended, and usually takes the form of a few hours of activity five days a week.
School
Schools in Australia can be classified according to sources of funding and administrative structures. There are three such categories in Australia: Public Schools (also known as 'Government' schools or 'State' schools), Independent Schools (informally known as 'private' schools) and Catholic schools.
School is compulsory in Australia between the ages of six and fifteen, depending on the state and date of birth, with, in recent years, over three quarters of students staying on until they are eighteen. Government schools educate about two thirds of Australian students, with the other third in independent schools, a proportion which is rising in many parts of Australia.
Government schools are free, while independent schools, both religious and secular, charge fees. Regardless of whether a school is government or independent, they are required to adhere to the same curriculum frameworks. Most school students, be they in government or independent school, usually wear uniforms, although there are varying expectations and some Australian schools do not require uniforms.
Government (or state) schools
Government or state schools are run by the local state or territory government. They do not charge compulsory fees, with the majority of their costs met by the relevant government, and the rest by voluntary levies and fundraising.
They can be divided into two categories: open and selective. The open schools accept all students from their government defined catchment areas. Selective government schools mostly cater for academically gifted students (the top 5 percent), although there are performing arts and sports schools. Almost all selective schools are in New South Wales,[citation needed] though a few exist in other areas.
Selective schools are more prestigious than open government schools, and generally achieve better results in the school-leaving exams than independent or open government schools. Entrance to selective schools is often highly competitive and they cater to a large geographical area.
Other schools
Most Catholic schools are either run by their local parish and/or by each state's Catholic Education Department.
Non-Catholic non-government schools (often called "Independent" schools) enroll about 14% of students. These include schools operated by religious groups and secular educational philosophies such as Montessori.
Some independent schools charge high fees. Government funding for independent schools often comes under criticism from the Australian Education Union and the Australian Labor Party.
Higher education
Tertiary or higher education in Australia is made up of universities and other higher education institutions (called higher education providers).
A higher education provider is a body that is established or recognised by or under the law of the Australian Government, a State, the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory. The provider has to be approved by the Australian Government Minister for Education, Science and Training before it can receive grants or its students can receive assistance from the Australian Government under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA). Providers are subject to quality and accountability requirements.
In 2007, the Australian higher education system consisted of:
- 39 universities of which 37 are public institutions and 2 are private;
- 1 Australian branch of an overseas university;
- 4 other self-accrediting higher education institutions; and
- non-self-accrediting higher education providers accredited by State and Territory authorities, numbering more than 150 as listed on State and Territory registers. These include several that are registered in more than one State and Territory.
The non-self-accrediting higher education providers form a very diverse group of specialised, mainly private, providers that range in size and include theological colleges and other providers that offer courses in areas such as business, information technology, natural therapies, hospitality, health, law and accounting.
Institutions
Universities in Australia
Both private and public universities can be found in Australia. As of 2006, there are 36 public, 2 Catholic and 1 Non-profit Private universities in Australia.
Australia has 38 universities that are members of Universities Australia, the Australian analogue of Universities UK.
Most Australian universities developed substantial capability in distance learning in the 1980s and several have now migrated this to e-learning.
Perhaps the best known is the University of Southern Queensland.
There is a service provider called NextEd who operates globally and in particular supported the GUA.
Education
Vocational Education and Training
The major providers of vocational education and training (VET) in Australia are the various state-administered institutes of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) across the country. TAFE institutions generally offer short courses, Certificates I, II, III, and IV, Diplomas, and Advanced Diplomas in a wide range of vocational topics. They also sometimes offer Higher Education courses, especially in Victoria.
In addition to TAFE Institutes there are many Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) which are privately operated. In Victoria alone there are approximately 1100. They include:
commercial training providers, the training department of manufacturing or service enterprises, the training function of employer or employee organisations in a particular industry, Group Training Companies, community learning centres and neighbourhood houses, secondary colleges providing VET programs. In size these RTOs vary from single-person operations delivering training and assessment in a narrow specialisation, to large organisations offering a wide range of programs. Many of them receive government funding to deliver programs to apprentices or trainees, to disadvantaged groups, or in fields which governments see as priority areas.
All TAFE institutes and private RTOs are required to maintain compliance with a set of national standards called the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), and this compliance is monitored by regular internal and external audits.
VET programs delivered by TAFE Institutes and private RTOs are based on nationally registered qualifications, derived from either endorsed sets of competency standards known as Training Packages, or from courses accredited by state/territory government authorities. These qualifications are regularly reviewed and updated. In specialised areas where no publicly owned qualifications exist, an RTO may develop its own course and have it accredited as a privately owned program, subject to the same rules as those that are publicly owned.
All trainers and assessors delivering VET programs are required to hold a qualification known as the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAA40104) or demonstrate equivalent competency. They are also required to have relevant vocational competencies, at least to the level being delivered or assessed.
Higher education reform
Administration and finance
Responsibilities for higher education
The Australian Government has the primary responsibility for public funding of higher education.
Australian Government funding support for higher education is provided largely through:
the Commonwealth Grant Scheme which provides for a specified number of Commonwealth Supported places each year; the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) arrangements providing financial assistance to students; the Commonwealth Scholarships; and a range of grants for specific purposes including quality, learning and teaching, research and research training programmes. The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) is the Australian Government Department with responsibility for administering this funding and for developing and administering higher education policy and programs.
Decision-making, regulation and governance for higher education are shared among the Australian Government, the State and Territory Governments and the institutions themselves.
By definition within Australia, universities are self-accrediting institutions and each university has its own establishment legislation (generally State and Territory legislation) and receive the vast majority of their public funding from the Australian Government, through the Higher Education Support Act 2003.
Some aspects of higher education are the responsibility of States and Territories. In particular, most universities are established or recognised under State and Territory legislation.
The Australian National University, the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the Australian Maritime College are established under Commonwealth legislation.
The Australian Catholic University is established under corporations law. It has establishment Acts in NSW and Victoria.
Many private providers are also established under corporations law.
States and Territories are also responsible for accrediting non-self-accrediting higher education providers.
As self-accrediting institutions, Australia’s universities have a reasonably high level of autonomy to operate within the legislative requirements associated with their Australian Government funding.
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) provides descriptors for qualifications accredited through the higher education sector, as well as those accredited by the vocational and technical education sector and the schools sector. All accredited higher education providers are listed on the AQF register.
Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future
Announced by the previous Government in 2003, the Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future package provided an additional $11 billion in funding over 10 years to enable higher education providers to deliver world-class higher education.
The Commonwealth Grant Scheme and Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) arose from these reforms. The reforms were structured around four key policy principles:
sustainability – improved governance, appropriate resourcing and greater pricing flexibility for universities; quality – incentives to improve performance and greater accountability; equity – increased number of student places, greater availability of income-contingent loans, increase in the repayment threshold and incentives to improve participation and outcomes for disadvantaged groups; and diversity – incentive and performance-based funding for teaching and research, support for restructuring and collaboration and additional funding for regional institutions.
Quality assurance
The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) is an independent, not-for-profit national agency that will promote, audit, and report on quality assurance in Australian higher education.
AUQA was formally established by the Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in March 2000. It operates independently of governments and the higher education sector under the direction of a Board of Directors. AUQA is owned by and receives core, operational funding from the Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers for higher education who are members of MCEETYA. The AUQA Constitution is available for download.
Internal quality assurance is supervised by the Open Universities Australia Academic Programs Committee.
Australia's HEIs in the information society
Towards the information society
A real ICT policy and organisational framework exists for the use of Information and Communication Technologies in Australian Education Training. A Joint Ministerial Statement on Information and Communications Technologies in Australian Education and Training: 2008-2011 was endorsed by MCEETYA and MCVTE in June 2008.
Information society strategy
In Australia 14% of students (95 000) are doing distance education.
Benchmarking e-learning
Australia is one of the few countries where benchmarking e-learning has been taken seriously. Others include UK and New Zealand.
There has been interest in benchmarking in Australia on two fronts:
- a long strand of development and piloting of the ACODE scheme
- an impending pilot of eMM by around six institutions
Although the ACODE scheme is a distinct scheme, it has several similarities with the Pick&Mix style of benchmarking which has been used for some analytic purposes in Re.ViCa - and in fact Paul Bacsich was the external advisor to the ACODE scheme. There are interesting differences, including a stronger focus in ACODE on IT.
Major e-learning initiatives
Open Universities Australia, formerly Open Learning Australia, Australia’s national specialist distance tertiary education agency, was established by the Australian Government to ensure that the highest quality tertiary education was open to all Australians. There are no education prerequisites for entry to most undergraduate courses, no limits on numbers and in most cases no requirements to attend on-campus or residential seminars. Learners can study in any or all of the four study periods each year, commencing March, June, September or December.
Open Universities Australia is owned and operated by a consortium of seven Australian Universities.
- Curtin University of Technology
- Griffith University
- Macquarie University
- Monash University
- RMIT University
- Swinburne University of Technology
- University of South Australia (UNISA)
TAFE Open Learning or Open Learning Institute of TAFE Queensland (OLI)
Open Learning Institute of TAFE, Australia is an accredited public provider of training courses using distance and internet delivery. The Institute's four stream courses areas are: Business Services, Engineering & Environment Technologies, Education & Training, Community, Health & Personal Services.
TAFE Open Learning helps deliver quality vocational and lifestyle programs to some 25,000 people each year.
TAFE Open Learning is nationally recognised for providing opportunity to enrol into innovative TAFE programs that are tailored for transition into employment and for updating current industry required skills.
TAFE virtual campus Online Learning and Information Portal for the Victorian TAFE System.
The TAFE VC is an established state funded virtual learning platform offering a range of e-learning products and services to a diverse group of students and organisations including TAFE, ACE, registered training organisations, industry and enterprise, schools and Government agencies.
Open Training and Education Network
The Open Training and Education Network (OTEN) in Sydney is the specialist distance education and open learning institute of TAFE NSW, part of the NSW Department of Education and Training. As part of TAFE NSW - Western Sydney Institute, OTEN is the largest provider of distance education and flexibly-delivered programs in Australia. It offers world-class distance education services and products and enrols more than 37,000 students in over 250 TAFE NSW courses. Most courses give graduates nationally recognised qualifications through the AQF (Australian Qualifications Framework). Other specific-purpose courses are recognised by all of TAFE NSW.
University of Phoenix
The University of Phoenix provides Australian and international students with degree programs in some of the fastest growing fields including: Business, Global Management, Technology Management, Information Systems, Education, and Healthcare. All supported by a state-of-the-art virtual learning platform containing some of the best academic resources and professional tools in the world. Our no-nonsense approach to higher education has made us the largest private, accredited university in the United States, and a premier educational provider for working professionals throughout the world. Currently serving students in more than 130 countries.
ECAR Case study 4, 2003], (PDF)
University of Southern Queensland
Distance Education Australia - Online University Courses
University of Southern Queensland Distance Education Centre (DEC) is the first distance education facility in the world to receive international quality accreditation to ISO9001standard. USQ is ALSO accredited with the Distance Education Training Council (DETC), an American public service organisation dedicated to identifying quality distance learning institutions. More than 300 undergraduate and postgraduate award programs of study (eg degree, diploma, certificate) are currently offered by USQ.
Case study in UNESCO "The Virtual University"
University of Queensland e-learning site
Edith Cowan University
Global University Alliance
University of New England UNEOnline
USQonline
References
Web sites :
- [1]: Government Educational Portal
- [2]: is the official Australian Government site for studying in Australia
- Wikipedia
- www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/