The Final Report of the Australian Universities Accord found that Australia’s tertiary education system lacks the coordinated, future-focused and evidence-based decision-making capacity necessary for Australia’s future success. The federal government has committed to establishing the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) “as a steward of the tertiary education system” that will bring direction, cohesion and stability to policy making as well as having the capacity to drive reforms over the long term. It is intended the ATEC be established in an interim capacity from 1 July 2025, and formally established from 1 January 2026, subject to legislation.

An implementation consultation paper about ATEC was released in late June. Here’s a quick summary of the ground it covers.

What is ATEC to do?

ATEC’s objectives are to “underpin and drive equitable opportunity through supporting all Australians to access and participate in high-quality, engaging and transformative tertiary education programs” and deliver highly skilled and educated graduates through facilitating the production and application of new knowledge and drive the development of a strong civic democracy through institutions that foster robust debate and critical inquiry and contribute to Australia’s cultural and intellectual life.

How will ATEC achieve this?

It will achieve this by:

  • “facilitating a strong, dynamic and efficient tertiary education system that has the capacity and capability it needs”
  • “fostering collaborative and purposeful work between all governments, tertiary education providers, industry, employers, communities and unions”
  • “working with other relevant agencies, including Jobs and Skills Australia on the identification of skills needs and the Australian Research Council on research funding” and
  • “enhancing collaboration between Commonwealth and States and Territories on tertiary related matters.”

Thus “ATEC will need strong and independent leadership, supported by skilled and capable staff.” There will be four Commissioners, including a Chief Commissioner as chair, one First Nations Commissioner and two Deputy Commissioners. The four Commissioners would operate collectively as the Commission, while the Commission itself will be led by a Chief Executive Officer with a range of staff to support the Commission’s functions. The Minister of Education is expected to have statutory powers to direct the ATEC, which is a possible problem for VET as a part of the tertiary system as ministerial responsibility for it lies federally with another minister. In addition, while higher education is a federal responsibility, the paper points out that “VET is a shared responsibility with federal, state and territory governments, under a National Skills Agreement.”

Linking to VET and harmonisation

The paper points out that ATEC will provide advice on tertiary education matters to both the federal Ministers for Education and Skills and Training, and, “where relevant, all state and territory education and skills ministers.” Examples could include matters such as meeting tertiary attainment targets or the Australian Qualifications Framework. Hopefully therefore we won’t see significant issues in ministerial and departmental responsibilities at the federal level at least.

It’s also proposed that “ATEC will lead and manage Australia’s higher education system, including promoting a more harmonised tertiary education system by breaking down barriers between the higher education and VET sectors” and delivering policy settings “for better alignment between the higher education and VET sectors.” It will also “foster greater tertiary alignment between the higher education and VET systems through driving collaboration with tertiary stakeholders to develop solutions to structural problems, such as credit recognition.”

Harmonisation is a key word. The paper suggests that policy will drive harmonisation efforts and, moreover, that targeted work on specific tertiary harmonisation projects would involve the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. One of the implementation issues the paper therefore raises is:

  • How can the ATEC be designed to maximise harmonisation between the two tertiary education systems?

And therefore:

  • What are the steps needed for harmonisation and how should they be timed/staged?
  • How should States and Territories be engaged in this process?

In an article in Future Campus Frank Larkins and Ian Marshmann outline ‘new terminology’ such as “Stewardship”, “tertiary harmonisation” and higher education “system improvements” that – they suggest – potentially raise warning flags for Australia’s universities. They see them all as loaded terms, “the beauty and scope of which will be in the hands of the Commissioners.”

The head of TAFE Directors Australia, Jenny Dodd, has waded in on the harmonisation discussion too, in her piece in a recent TDA News item, entitled “Why Harmonisation?” she argues that answering the ‘why’ question first is important to then be followed by answering ‘what’ and ‘how’ in due course. Moreover, she points out that ATEC will be able to connect the dots on the two systems that will “by its very nature lead to better harmonisation.” Given a stronger focus on national priority industries, she suggests that “moving hand in glove is a much better long-term strategy.” Thus, TAFE Centres of Excellence might fall into ATEC’s watching brief as these Centres aim to increase collaboration between TAFEs and develop partnerships with industry and universities alike to deliver the skills people need for good, secure work and careers.

As Jenny suggests “it is simplistic to think of harmonisation as just about credit transfer. Harmonisation is about looking at the whole tertiary education system.”