Credit transfer ‘inevitable part’ of compact negotiations

Australian authorities will use compact negotiations to press for systematic recognition of university entrants’ prior studies, in a bid to achieve the long-sought “harmonisation” of the tertiary education sectors.

Jobs and Skills Australia commissioner Barney Glover has proposed that universities be awarded extra teaching subsidies if they offer recognition of prior learning (RPL) in a consistent way.

The trade-off would be overseen by the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (Atec), which would develop a “national credit recognition framework” to replace the ad hoc approach to RPL that has prevailed for decades.

Glover, who heads the interim Atec, said he expected “block credit” to feature strongly in compact negotiations conducted by the substantive commission – assuming legislation to establish the body passes parliament.

“I’m only interim, but I imagine…that’s what the commission would do,” Glover told Times Higher Education. “[It] would be [asking], ‘what baseline credit do you offer at the moment? Where do you want to get to? What sort of pipeline of students can you attract? And how can we discuss our load allocation to help support you?’”

Education minister Jason Clare said he liked the idea. “This is the sort of thing we’ve got to do to make it quicker and cheaper and easier to get the skills you need,” he told the Universities Australia annual conference.

Clare said current approaches to RPL were “all over the shop”. For example, universities offered anywhere between 12 months advance standing and “nothing at all” to people who had vocational certificates in school-based education support, and wanted to obtain teaching degrees.

“We need to…make it easier for students to get the skills and qualifications they need without having to rely on pot luck that they pick the university that offers the best deal,” Clare said. “At the very least, we should make it easier for students to compare what every university has to offer.”

He said systematic RPL could mean substantial savings for cash-strapped students, particularly if they obtained fee-free training through the publicly owned technical and further education (TAFE) networks. “If we link this up with free TAFE, it means that some students will effectively be able to do the first year of their degree free,” Clare said.

The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) network has offered to adopt a systemic approach to RPL. One of its member institutions, the University of Canberra, last year announced that it would grant direct entry and up to a year’s credit to local TAFE graduates seeking degrees in related disciplinary areas.

Fellow IRU member Western Sydney University has adopted a similar approach for New South Wales TAFE graduates who want to boost their qualifications in certain fields. The arrangement begins this year at WSU’s Bankstown campus, where the university and local TAFE institute share a building.

Glover said RPL had been a “challenge” for 30 or 40 years, partly because vice-chancellors were reluctant to relinquish first-year students’ fees. “There’s a sort of financial disincentive, [but] maximising credit recognition is an overdue systemic response.

“Universities…would argue, ‘we’re doing it’ [by offering] student-by-student, precedent-based credit. Some get a lot; some not so much. To be honest, that’s not what we want – we want a systemic response.

“This is about what’s best for students. There’s a pretty compelling argument to put to all universities. Why wouldn’t you be giving credit into those programmes if other universities can manage it?”