News

ASQA announced as national training package assurance body

The Australian Government today announced the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as the independent body to be responsible for training package assurance from 1 January 2023.

This independent assurance function, which forms part of a broader suite of Australian Government reforms to the vocational education and training (VET) system, will see ASQA assessing training packages for compliance against standards and policies set by Skills Ministers, delivering enhanced transparency, accountability and confidence, and ensuring training packages are high quality and meet the needs of employers and students.

The function will replace the Australian Industry and Skills Committee, which will remain in place until 31 December 2022 to ensure continuity and stability of the VET system during transition to the new arrangements.

For more information, please visit here.

Australian universities: How much does it cost to send your child there? (2022)

There is no nice way to say this: Be prepared to bleed your soul dry paying for an Australian university education. International students are a huge revenue source for Australian universities, and they’ve been taking full advantage of it by hiking up their fees outrageously over the years.

Let’s take a look at the annual tuition fees of six major universities in Melbourne — if you’re Singaporean, there’s a high chance your child will be considering one of these six.

For more information, please visit here.

Five Trends The EdTech Industry Should Pay Attention To In 2022

Education technology is an industry that is expected to surpass $377 billion by 2028. From my perspective, the reason for this expected growth is the emergence of new technologies and the changing needs of students. As social media and the internet continue to become a greater part of our lives, they’re also going to become greater parts of our education.

The pandemic has changed the educational landscape, and the EdTech market grew by nearly 21% year-over-year in 2021. Now that we are in a new year full of new surprises, I’d like to share the five trends I believe the EdTech industry should watch and prepare for in 2022.

For more information, please visit here.

Foreign students back to pre-pandemic numbers

International student numbers at universities and vocational education have bounced back to above pre-pandemic levels, with the number of students commencing studies higher than in 2019.

However, that is at odds with the English-language and school sectors, which have both been decimated and show no signs that students are responding in any significant numbers to the reopening of borders.

For more information, please visit here.

ASIC’s ambitious goal to give advice to Australia’s youth

With the under 21 demographic priced out of financial advice, ASIC has released a new website to help boost financial literacy in the next generation of adults.

The corporate regulator’s new Get Moneysmart website covers making decisions with money, managing debt and planning for the future (moving out of home, car loans, weddings and even owning a pet).

Perhaps most importantly, it touches upon contemporary issues such as dealing with debt from buy now/pay later services.

For more information, please visit here.

Does competency have to be the only way VET is delivered? – comment by CEO Jenny Dodd

In a competency system the standards that industry requires to be demonstrated are set out. That is, the outcomes are defined but not the process to get there. However, in a curriculum-based environment the learning outcomes are defined. That is, the process through which the learner undergoes capability development to achieve the outcomes is defined.

Why has vocational education and training in Australia decided that competency standards must be the only utility for determining outcomes? Why, could we not develop vocational education and training so that there can be a mix of qualifications built on competency standards and qualifications based on curriculum development?

For more information, please visit here.

Domestic violence prevention program receives high praise from ACER

An ACER evaluation has found Griffith University’s MATE Bystander Program to be highly effective at equipping people with the tools and understanding to step in and address problematic behaviour, prevent violence against women, racism and discrimination, and promote equality.

Domestic and gender-based violence is a huge concern in Australia, affecting up to one in four women and one in six men. In 2020, family and domestic violence was the cause of 145 of the 396 homicides committed, and between 43 and 65 per cent of assaults.

All victims and perpetrators of such violence are surrounded by a community of family members, friends, colleagues, neighbours and community members. Many members of this community of bystanders may notice changes or signs that could indicate something is wrong and could intervene. Most bystanders, however, lack the understanding to join-the-dots and the skills to know what to do.

For more information, please visit here.

Part-time work focus for international students a ‘time bomb’

The Australian government’s approach to boosting international education by uncapping part-time work rights is not a “gesture of support” for students but about providing “a supplementary workforce for corporate Australia”, a conference has heard.

Phil Honeywood, head of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), told a Universities UK forum that the result could also be a “time bomb” for the higher education sector because of the pressures students would face to work while studying.

Since opening up its borders to international students in December, the Australian government has pledged to refund visa fees and temporarily scrapped the limit on the number of hours overseas learners are allowed to work during term time in a bid to quickly boost numbers.

Mr Honeywood said Australia had suffered a “reputational hit” during the Covid crisis and criticised prime minister Scott Morrison for telling “our international students at the start of the pandemic to just go home” when other nations focused more on support.

For more information, please visit here.

UK, Australia may score over Canada for Indian students, shows data

If 2021 saw Canada post a manifold growth in intake of international students, especially from India, the upcoming Fall 2022 season may find the scales tipped in favour of the UK and Australia, along with the US, as top destinations.

The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) figures recorded a jump of over 300 per cent in new study permits issued to Indian students (over 120,000) for the January to November 2021 period, as against some 30,000 Indian students in the whole of 2020.

For more information, please visit here.

Clinical trial finds a new therapy to lower cholesterol and stabilise plaques associated with heart attack

A novel new therapy has been found to reduce harmful plaque in arteries and change its composition so it is less likely to rupture and cause a heart attack, following a clinical trial led by the Victorian Heart Institute (VHI) at Monash University. Read the media release here.

For more information, please visit here.