Productivity Commission releases interim report on the Review of the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development

The Commission’s interim report, released on 5 June finds that the aim of promoting user choice and competition in the current NASWD has not been met, and it calls for a better way to allocate the $6.1 billion that governments spend on VET.

“Governments should consider reforms to make the VET system a more efficient, competitive market, driven by the informed choices of students and employers, with the flexibility to deliver a broad suite of training options,” the Commission says.

Among its findings it proposes:

  • Using student vouchers to facilitate user choice
  • Reforming course pricing
  • Creating a nationally consistent set of course subsidies, based on the efficient cost of delivery
  • Introducing a single national VET regulator
  • Lifting loan caps and removing course restrictions on VET Student Loans
  • Scrapping employer incentives to train apprentices

Submissions to respond to the interim report are invited by 17 July 2020.

Canberra, we have a problem! – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

TDA CEO, Craig Robertson’s analysis of the report reveals the true nature of the problem – that the wages in return from vocational education way under-perform the return from undergraduate and graduate studies. The full analysis can be viewed here.

Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook