Australia / From vocational education to university: it depends

INSTITUTIONAL culture, rather than the nature of the course, determines whether vocational students are welcome at university.

A National Centre for Vocational Education Research report, A Half-Open Door, says undergraduate courses in education and information technology attract the highest proportions of vocational graduates.

But despite the strength of vocational colleges in the trades, just 7 per cent of commencing undergraduates in engineering and related technologies come via vocational education.

The report found this was not because such courses were inappropriate for vocational graduates but because they were dominated by universities that did not embrace them.

The report identifies the Group of Eight among a “cluster” of universities that do not foster VET-to-higher education pathways. Also on the list are Curtin, Macquarie, James Cook, Sunshine Coast, Southern Queensland and Flinders universities. “Any characteristics of the fields of education that ‘lend themselves’ to vocational pathways appear to have little influence on the rates of admission of VET award holders by (these) institutions,” the report says. It warns that training colleges are likely to be sidelined from any attempt to alleviate skill shortages in the disciplines dominated by these universities.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Unis fail to embrace vocational students, says report | The Australian.