Australian Government releases Universities Accord

The Albanese Government has released the Australian Universities Accord Final Report, which has recommended reforms to build a better and fairer higher education system.

 

The Accord is the product of 12-months’ work by an expert review panel chaired by Professor Mary O’Kane AC and informed by 820 public submissions and 180 meetings with stakeholders.

 

“This is a plan not for one budget, but a blueprint for the next decade and beyond,” Minister for Education Jason Clare said. 

 

The Report contains 47 recommendations and targets to reform higher education, recommending that at least 80 per cent of the workforce will need a VET or university qualification by 2050 – Currently,approximately 60 per cent of the workforce holds a VET or University qualification.

 

Raising tertiary education attainment to the required level, the report notes, “will not be easy,” and will only be achievable by making the higher education system “far more equitable.” 

 

Should significant changes be made, more Australians from First Nations backgrounds, outer suburbs and regional locations, as well as those from disadvantaged backgrounds would have access to the University environment. 

 

The report also found that barriers between VET and higher education would need to be broken down to ensure a more seamless and integrated tertiary education system, recommending ambitious targets including: 

 

• increasing the tertiary education attainment rate from 60 per cent to at least 80 per cent of Australians in our workforce by 2050
• increasing the proportion of university educated Australians aged 25 to 34 years from 45 per cent to 55 per cent by 2050, and
• increasing the number of 25- to 34-year-olds with a tertiary level vocational or technical qualification to 40 per cent by 2050

 

The Report proposes that implementation of the recommendations be staged.

 

The Final Report and its recommendations can be viewed here. A summary of the Report is also available here.