Reforming both qualifications and employment could build better links between education and work to help provide a more coherent approach to vocational development.
Does industry support a new approach to qualifications based on vocational streams and productive capabilities and how we implement this?
This study examined the advantages and disadvantages of cross-sectoral provision of tertiary education and training. It found that cross-sectoral collaboration could be improved by the development of a coherent national lifelong learning policy, and addressing 'cultural' differences between the various sectors. None of this was assisted by the sources of funding for tertiary education being divided between levels of government. Other obstacles included competition for students, tightly regulated profile negotiation processes in the VET sector and the use of non-graded approaches to competency assessment. Nevertheless, some staff in both the university and VET sectors are working very hard to collaborate and to create opportunities for students to study across sectors. These efforts lay the basis for a more unified tertiary sector and improved opportunitites for lifelong learning.