CCA appeared in today’s edition (10 January 2017) of The Sydney Morning Herald letters page, under the title “Time to value education as investment, not commodity." The letter, from CCA CEO, Dr Don Perlgut, referred to an article by reporter Eryk Bagshaw about the coming closure of the private for-profit VET college, Australasian...
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Australian Government VET Student Loans Program Commences
The Australian Government’s new VET Student Loans program commenced on 1 January 2017, replacing the troubled and scandal-ridden VET FEE-HELP program.
CCA has welcomed the VET Student Loans program as bringing long-needed reforms to funding of VET students, but has noted that only a minority of community education providers utilised VET FEE-HELP, in...
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Proof that a free-for-all Australian VET market is wrong
There are many lessons to be learned from this week's (20 December 2016) release of the Australian National Audit Office report Administration of the VET FEE-HELP Scheme, but here's the biggest takeaway:
A free-for-all Australian VET market is wrong. From the Report (paragraph 27):
"Course tuition fees increased from an average of $4,060...
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National Policy Direction on Vocational Education and Training Means that Community Education Loses Out
Australia's lack of a national VET policy means that community education will continue to lose out. The recent VET FEE-HELP reforms and replacement with VET Student Loans, while welcome, are not enough. Dr Don Perlgut, CEO of Community Colleges Australia, reports below.
“Contestability” in VET - A disaster for community education
History has not been kind to...
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Putting ‘community’ back into Australian Vocational Education and Training
Dr Don Perlgut, CEO of Community Colleges Australia, has recently published an article entitled “Re-inserting ‘community’ into Australian Vocational Education and Training”, on Open Forum, and is now featured as their 'blog of the week'.
In this article, he discusses how vocational education and training (VET) has now entered the political debate in the upcoming July...
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CCA issues policy statement on VET FEE-HELP
Community Colleges Australia (CCA) has issued a policy statement on VET FEE-HELP, the Australian Government loan scheme that assists eligible students enrolled in certain higher-level VET courses.
The CCA statement notes that, “Our members serve their communities by putting their students first” and “are dedicated to the provision of relevant, affordable and accessible lifelong...
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