Why harmonisation? – comment by CEO Jenny Dodd

I have been asked a few times recently what I think ‘harmonisation’ means. For context, the question is about harmonisation between higher education and vocational education and training. The ambition for harmonisation has developed higher prominence due to the work of the Universities Accord.

It is fair to say that higher education and vocational education and training have developed as two systems over the last 50 years. As discussed at the TDA Convention 2024, in our most recent TAFETalks webinar, and in this TDA Monday newsletter, the 1974 Myer Kangan report[i] that established technical and further education envisaged equal systems of education; not the great divide that has developed since.

To understand the direction of harmonisation it is essential to read the paper released recently by the Department of Education for consultation on the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC). In the ATEC consultation, the question is asked “How can ATEC be designed to maximise harmonisation between the two tertiary education systems? What are the steps needed for harmonisation and how should they be timed/staged?” It is an interesting question that firstly needs to be answered for ‘why’, and then, ‘what’ and ‘how’ will follow in due course.

I would argue that the very existence of ATEC will help this process of answering the ‘why’. The fact a body is formed that is providing an overarching view over Australia’s higher education and vocational education investment into skilling for priority industries is one of the answers. ATEC will have a long-term perspective. It will be able to connect the dots on the two systems that will by its very nature lead to better harmonisation. At the moment the two sectors can move quite independently of each other. With a stronger focus on national priority industries, moving hand in glove is a much better long-term strategy. Into ATEC’s watching brief might fall the recent developments contained in TAFE Centres of Excellence.

In its submission to the Universities Accord last year, TDA had ten big ideas. The first was for one tertiary education system. ATEC will be the place for a single vision for tertiary education. The next pertinent TDA big idea was innovation funding to universities that must contain TAFE partnerships and focus on industry. TDA wrote, “these compacts would be long term and would encourage education solutions such as the creation of dual qualifications with both TAFE and university components that meet specific industry needs”. Supporting that big idea was the call for “self-accreditation for TAFE courses to facilitate student mobility and better qualification alignment between TAFE and university”. Pilots for self-accreditation at AQF 5 have been approved, which is a first step towards this innovation. They too could be effectively oversighted through ATEC.

So where does that leave the question of harmonisation? Harmonisation is much more than a set of steps. It is an overriding approach to the vision for ATEC. Again, from the ATEC consultation paper, “The Accord Final Report found the absence of a sector steward has, over time, created a system characterised by … lack of deep thinking and clarity of direction for the sector to be agile to future needs, and fragmented changes to policy and funding, driven by immediate priorities rather than long term strategy.”

Therefore, it is simplistic to think of harmonisation as just about credit transfer. Harmonisation is about looking at the whole tertiary education system. That is, the value of ATEC will be because it includes TAFEs in its perspectives, not just bolting them on as an afterthought. The harmonisation that occurs through ATEC will be its overarching lens on whole of tertiary education developments.

Thus, while there might be a series of steps that might help with better credit transfer and easier student movement between the two systems, goals that are useful in and of themselves, the main value will be in this vision for one tertiary education system. Despite the focus predominantly on higher education, ATEC’s ability to provide long-term oversight of national priority setting that includes both parts of tertiary education, i.e. vocational and higher education, will be key to its success and benefit for Australia.