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An Australian university has made ¡°harmonisation¡± with vocational education and training (VET) a central plank of its strategy to adopt a ¡°students-first¡± mantra and distance itself from a sector ¡°saturated with prestige-driven narratives¡±.

The University of Canberra (UC) has vowed to collaborate more with TAFEs (public vocational colleges), design ¡°seamless pathways¡± between educational sectors and improve its processes for recognising and crediting prior learning.

The commitments, outlined in UC¡¯s Reconnected 2025-2027 plan, align with Australian Universities Accord proposals for a ¡°more integrated¡± tertiary education system ¨C a push backed by statutory bodies the Productivity Commission and Jobs and Skills Australia, and increasingly by the governing Labor Party.

¡°The federal government said they want to encourage more tertiary harmonisation. We¡¯re right up for that,¡± said vice-chancellor Bill Shorten, who led Labor in opposition and served until recently as a senior cabinet minister. ¡°We are eschewing the¡­prestige-driven approach of the big city universities. We think that there¡¯s huge opportunities for UC to fill a niche.¡±

He said he wanted to be able to embed UC units in TAFE courses and enable TAFE graduates with trade qualifications or diplomas to begin university degrees in second year. ¡°We¡¯ll¡­be talking to Jobs and Skills Australia about how to map the subjects in a university course and the subjects in a [vocational] course, and see how we can create a common value and language.¡±

Shorten took the reins at UC in January, two years after the institution embarked on a decade-long strategic plan called Connected. Its values were ¡°still pretty solid¡± but ¡°there¡¯s been so much change in the last two to three years. We¡¯ve been¡­consulting heavily, looking at what government policy is, looking at what students¡¯ expectations are, the Canberra community, our own staff, higher education generally. This Reconnected plan is¡­our pragmatic implementation plan for the next two-plus years.¡±

The strategy promises to support ¡°accelerated progression¡± and reduce ¡°unnecessary duplication¡±, partly by improving its recognition of prior learning (RPL) processes. This aligns with recommendations in a new , which urges the government to ¡°move toward a national system¡± of RPL and credit transfer.

The report, one of five produced to inform the forthcoming economic reform roundtable, said the government should enforce people¡¯s ¡°right¡± to have credit transfer or RPL assessed before the deadline for accepting enrolment offers.

Shorten said school results were ¡°not really relevant¡± to the academic potential of people who had spent subsequent decades working in the defence force, civil service or small business. Universities needed to do the ¡°overdue hard work¡± of assessing people¡¯s life experience, skills and professional journeys, and ¡°giving that an academic value¡±.

The strategy outlines UC¡¯s ambition to be ¡°the most accessible university in Australia¡± and to ¡°unapologetically¡± put students ¡°at the front of the line¡±. The university will be ¡°built around the individual, not institutional ego¡±, it says. ¡°Students are our reason for being.¡±

In a foreword to the document, Shorten and chancellor Lisa Paul say the ¡°big city pitch¡± of ¡°big name¡± universities leaves some people cold. ¡°We understand our students have a life, responsibilities and experiences ¨C and we will ensure we deliver flexible education to fit around all three.

¡°We want our students to find a sense of empathy from our university, confident that UC understands their pressures, challenges and anxieties (we get you).¡±

Shorten said UC would not be an ¡°international student sausage factory¡± like Sydney and Melbourne universities with ¡°mind-blowing amounts of money¡±.

¡°They do great research, great work, [but] appeal to people who in any society would end up going to university. We want to appeal to people who have dreams, but not necessarily the family experience of going to uni ¨C who don¡¯t necessarily want the anonymous, impersonal, sterile Melbourne and Sydney experience.

¡°Universities sometimes tend to promote themselves by the amount of reflecting glass on a 10-storey building. That¡¯s great if they¡¯ve got lots of assets. Good on ¡¯em. But¡­Gen Zs and millennials are not like boomers or Gen Xs. They¡¯re looking for a more communal approach, a sense of working together, not just trying to sort of cut each other¡¯s throats on the way to the top.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com