The VET Sector News- November 2021

Apprenticeships in butchery, childcare and hairdressing decline across the ACT

Canberrans have been warned local butchers are a “dying trade” after data showed a steep drop in apprenticeships.

Figures collated by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research showed a decline in trainee butchers, hairdressers and childcare workers in the ACT since 2013.

It was felt hardest in hairdressing, with trainee numbers falling by 46.5 per cent, while butchery fell by 47 per cent. There were just 25 trainee butchers in the ACT as of December 2020, compared to 47 in 2013.

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Covid outbreaks have shut more than 320 schools across NSW and Victoria in past three weeks

More than 300 schools across New South Wales and Victoria have closed down in the last three weeks due to Covid outbreaks, with the majority of students still due to return to classrooms.

Between the start of term four on 4 October and 22 October, there were 234 closures at government schools in Victoria, figures from the Department of Education show.

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Foreign students, workers to be allowed back into Australia before Christmas and tourists could follow

International students and workers will be allowed to return to Australia within weeks, with tourists potentially permitted back into the country by Christmas.

With Australia’s international borders reopening in Sydney for citizens, residents and their families on November 1, the government is moving fast on the plan to allow more travellers into the country.

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Australia mulls visa reforms for offshore students to enjoy work rights

Can international students expect Australian student visa reforms on the horizon, and to play a bigger role in Australia’s skilled migration?

The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) has submitted a policy paper to the government that proposed any international student who undertakes an additional professional year in skills shortage areas should be given double the migration points to permanent residency.

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World-first Gold learning hub confirmed for Sandhurst

The PGA of Australia will seek to further elevate the capabilities of the current and future golf industry workforce through the establishment of the PGA Golf Learning Hub at Sandhurst, south of Melbourne.

The completion of the Australian Golf Centre at Sandringham and the relocation of PGA administrative staff to the heart of the Melbourne Sandbelt has paved the way for an expansion of the PGA’s educational infrastructure already in place at the Sandhurst Club alongside its two championship golf courses.

To operate in conjunction with the existing PGA Membership Pathway Program, Accreditation and Continuing Education Program and the PGA’s Registered Training Organisation – the PGA International Golf Institute, the PGA Golf Learning Hub will serve to provide the entry point to a career in golf and where the existing workforce can advance their skills and education.

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Quarantine requirements dropped for Canberra universities

A third Australian jurisdiction has signalled its intention to allow the untrammelled return of international students, with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) vowing to admit fully immunised tertiary students in time for the start of the 2022 academic year in February.

Chief minister Andrew Barr said that while students would need to adhere to federal government vaccination and testing requirements for international arrivals, those entering the ACT would not be required to quarantine.

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The ‘ABC’ of Academic Credit Transfer in India: India Gives Students Flexibility in Higher Education Through Academic Bank of Credits

• An Academic Bank of Credits will be set up where students can deposit, transfer and redeem credits earned through a variety of courses, including MOOCs
• Flexibility for students to experience diverse learning
• Students to have multiple entry and exit points in higher education, resulting in certificate, diploma, degree etc
• Synchronisation proposed for general and vocational / skill education

Continuing with the trend of fast-paced educational reforms, the University Grants Commission (“UGC”) recently notified the UGC Establishment and Operation of Academic Bank of Credits in Higher Education) Regulations, 2021 (“Regulations”)1. The Regulations inter alia provide for the establishment of an Academic Bank of Credits (“ABC”) which will facilitate the recognition and transfer of credits earned by students, amongst various Higher Education Institutions (“HEI”).

The aim of the Regulations is to enable students to “choose their own learning path to attain a Degree or Diploma or Post Graduate diploma or academic qualification, working on the principle of multiple entry-multiple exit (“MEE”) as well as any-time, any-where, and any-level learning”.

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