Australia has world-class higher education, progressive vocational education and training, excellent schools and world leadership in English language courses for international students.

Australia has a federal system of government with six State governments, two Territory administrations and a national (Commonwealth) government. State governments have the major responsibility for school and vocational education in Australia. Universities are predominantly funded by the national government.

Australia's levels of education are among the highest in the OECD group of countries and it is therefore a leading destination for increasing numbers of international students.

KEY FEATURES OF THE AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

The three basic sectors — higher education, vocational education and training (VET) and schooling are well developed and designed to improve lifelong learning. Because these sectors are integrated, students can move easily from one level to the next. They can receive credit for previous study (or learning through experience) and they can move from one institution or provider to another without inconvenience.

The providers of education, both public and private, not only compete but cooperate to offer customers choice as well as value for money.

Quality is assured by a series of regulatory agencies, which register providers according to strict standards of service and codes of conduct. In addition, there are special regulations about the standards of service to international students. Specialist services for international students such as language tuition, guidance and social support are well resourced and their quality is guaranteed by strict accreditation processes.

The Australian Qualifications Framework provides for a coherent yet flexible system of credentials, which are recognised and valued around the world.

International students will benefit especially from the range of fully accredited English language courses. These cater for all levels, from those who only need to 'brush up' their language skills to those who wish to specialise in English as a second language. The courses are designed to help international students cope with their current studies, prepare them for further study, or prepare them for employment.

In addition, secondary students and others who are not ready or eligible for further education can take enabling courses (also known as Foundation Studies) to bridge the gap to further study.
These courses, of usually a year or less, are available in all sectors.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLING

School education is compulsory from ages 6 to 15 in all States except Tasmania, where 16 is the minimum leaving age.

In most States, however, children start school at 5, when they enter a kindergarten or other preparatory year. (About one in three children aged 3 to 5 will already have attended pre-schools or day-care centres offering pre-school education.) Primary (elementary) education continues for six or seven years, depending on the State.

Students usually begin their secondary schooling at the age of 12 or 13, reaching Year 12 - the final year - at 17 or 18.

Government schools are the direct responsibility of State education ministers and have the largest enrolments in the primary and secondary levels.

Non-government schools, while not subject to direct ministerial control, operate under conditions set by State government registration authorities. Most non-government schools have a religious affiliation, most commonly with the Roman Catholic Church: in 1999, 65 per cent of non-government schools were Catholic. Non-government schools not affiliated with the Catholic Church are usually referred to as 'independent'.

Nationally, the apparent retention rate of secondary school students from Year 7/8 to Year 12 was 72.3 per cent, while that from Year 10 to Year 12 was 74.4 per cent.

Age participation rates for full-time students at primary or secondary schools included 92.7 per cent for 15-year-olds and 61.8 per cent for 17-year-olds.

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The national government's policies and programs for schools and students are administered through the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs comprises the State, Territory, Commonwealth and New Zealand ministers with responsibility for these portfolios. The council consults at national and State levels with the non-government schools sector and with peak organisations representing parents, teachers and the business sector.

Two national research and development companies, partly or wholly funded by the federal and State governments, facilitate cooperative initiatives in schooling. They are:

• The Australian Council for Educational Research, which undertakes, promotes,disseminates and markets research and development (R & D) projects, including educational and psychological tests; and 
• The Curriculum Corporation, which develops and publishes curriculum materials resulting from national collaboration.

ADELAIDE DECLARATION

In April 1999 the Commonwealth, State and Territory ministers for education — meeting in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia — agreed to a new set of national goals for schooling. The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century represents a major milestone in education policy.

The new national goals for schooling reflect the significant social, economic and technological changes which have occurred since the first set of Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling was adopted a decade earlier. They also reflect the dynamic nature of contemporary society, both in Australia and globally, and the challenges facing school education — and the wider Australian community — entering the 21st century.

The National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century focus on the learning outcomes of students rather than the strategies and processes of education providers, and are presented in three groupings: the skills and capacities all students should have when they leave school, outcomes related to curriculum content, and social justice outcomes.

The National Report on Schooling in Australia, which is published annually, provides the mechanism for reporting to the Australian people on progress towards the achievement of the National Goals for Schooling. At the same time as they endorsed the new National Goals,education ministers agreed to the development of key performance measures to monitor — and report on — students' outcomes in six priority areas of schooling covered by the Goals: literacy, numeracy, student participation in schooling, vocational education and training in schools, science, and information technology. Other areas of schooling for which performance measures are being developed are civics and citizenship education and enterprise education. Performance in the priority areas of schooling, including nationally comparable data as it becomes available, will be reported in the National Report.

EDUCATION FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS

The Government has increased funding under the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Program to more than A$128 million in 2001. Under the program, federal funding to education providers is linked to agreed performance targets that aim to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students. It appears that achieving this type of outcomes focus to an education program is not only a national 'first', but it is also unique in the wider international forum of Indigenous education.
 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Vocational education and training (VET) in Australia is offered by two types of institutions: technical and further education (TAFE) institutes and private training organisations such as private colleges, industry training centres and individual enterprises.

These institutions offer a wide variety of training ranging from preparatory and entry level, through operator and technician to professional levels. Experts with relevant, up-to-date industry experience deliver a broad spectrum of programs and learning opportunities.

In the last decade Australia's VET system has been continuously reformed and has seen the implementation of competency-based training and assessment, the development of national skill standards, a standardised system of national credentials and the reform of entry-level training, including New Apprenticeships and User Choice. Most recently, Australia has moved further towards capturing the best advice possible from industry, increasing responsiveness to clients, simplifying regulations in vocational education and training, and promoting efficient quality training and equitable vocational education and training opportunities.

As a result Australia's vocational education and training system has become a cohesive national system which focuses on meeting the demand for skills by individuals and the demand for skilled workers by industry and enterprises. Australia has a National Training Framework, which supports nationally recognised qualifications, portable across industries, across State andTerritory boundaries, and across education sectors.

The national training system operates within a National Strategy that reflects industries' needs and priorities. Industry has outlined the competency standards it requires and these have been mapped to national qualifications in the form of Training Packages. By the end of 2000 Training Packages are expected to be in place for 85 per cent of Australian industry.

Training providers, whether located in the vocational education and training sector, in schools, or in adult and community education, are able to deliver training based on Training Packages designed and recognised by industry. A broad and diverse range of providers is now operating in cooperative and competitive ways to meet national and international training demands. The Australian Recognition Framework both supports and demands a quality approach. Vocational education and training is a strong and viable industry, with training organisations developing strategic alliances and new groupings to strengthen their capacity to compete in a global training market.

The development of new policy initiatives such as New Apprenticeships has opened up employment-based training for new groups and new industries. User Choice has enabled enterprises and individuals to make choices about where and when they will access training for apprenticeships and traineeships. Clear and accessible pathways to qualifications and improved cross-sectoral links are opening up new learning opportunities. For example, school students can choose to study vocational education and training programs at school, resulting in dual outcomes of senior certificate and national vocational qualifications. They can also undertake part-time apprenticeships and traineeships while still at school.

More flexible delivery of training is enabling individuals and groups previously restricted in their access to training due to time and responsibility constraints, distance or disability to gain the skills they need. Training is now delivered 'just in time, just enough and just for me'.

THE FUTURE

Competitive pressures on Australian enterprises are changing the way that enterprises think about, plan and manage human resources. Fundamental shifts in the structure and organisation of the Australian labour market are changing individual perspectives about careers, work and personal investment in education, training and re-training. Social and economic changes are altering community perspectives about vocational education and training. Training traditions are changing and new ways of thinking about, organising and ensuring adequate skills formation will need to be found.

The new millennium will need to accommodate new and different perspectives by both individuals and enterprises. For enterprises, the interdependence of economic performance and human capital formation should be better understood. The benefits of training will need to penetrate complicated organisational values, beliefs and attitudes to training as well as those of the individual. Individuals will need to have a love of new skills and knowledge and a thirst for training. Australia's success in the 21st century will be grounded in its capacity to continually develop the skills and knowledge of its people both for employment and as active members of society. Perhaps the apprenticeship of the next century will be of a new style — a self apprenticeship — an inherent desire to learn that will last a lifetime.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Australia's universities have long enjoyed an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Academic staff in Australian universities are recruited on an international basis. Leading international universities readily accept graduates from Australian universities for postgraduate study.

Australia has 43 higher education institutions publicly funded by the Commonwealth Government, including 37 universities. In addition, there are two private universities, Bond University and the University of Notre Dame Australia. There is also a range of privately funded institutions (such as theological colleges) offering higher education courses to students in Australia.

In 2000, Commonwealth government expenditure on higher education will be over $5.7 billion. This includes $5 billion in university operating grants and targeted research funding totalling $452 million. Some 686 200 students enrolled in Australia's publicly funded higher education institutions in 1999.

Each year Australia welcomes an increasing number of international students to its universities.In 1999 there were around 83 000 international students in Australia. Another 27 000 students were enrolled in Australian universities offshore. The most popular fields of study are business, administration and economics. International student fees vary according to university and type of course, but can range from $8000 to $24 000.

The cost of studying in Australia compares favourably with other destination countries for international students. A recent Australian Government study found that in terms of total costs (which include tuition fees and living expenses) the United States and the United Kingdom are consistently more expensive than Australia.
 

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The Commonwealth Government's policies and programs for higher education institutions are administered by the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. The objectives of the Government's policies for higher education are to:

• expand opportunity 
• assure quality 
• improve universities' responsiveness to varying student needs and industry requirements 
• advance the knowledge base and university contributions to national innovation 
• ensure public accountability for the cost-effective use of public resources. 

• a strong and independent Australian Research Council and invigorated national competitive grants system 
• performance-based funding for research student places and research activity in universities, with allocative formulas and transitional arrangements designed to ensure that all universities are able to compete effectively under the new arrangements 
• the establishment of a broad quality verification framework supported by Research and Research Training Management Plans 
• a collaborative research program to address the needs of rural and regional communities. 

QUALITY HIGHER EDUCATION

All Australian higher education institutions have mechanisms in place to ensure that the courses and services they provide have good quality assurance processes in place and are maintained to an international standard. The Commonwealth Government is committed to the enhancement of universities' quality assurance processes through the provision of a new quality framework. From 2001, a new agency, the Australian University Quality Agency, will begin operating to provide further assurance to students and the international community that Australia's universities are of the highest quality.

The new Australian University Quality Agency is the cornerstone of the new quality framework. Its main role will be to verify the claims made by institutions. Its audits and reports will be the evidence used to assure students, the community and the outside world that our universities are as good as we know them to be in both teaching and learning, and research and research training.

The Commonwealth Government is also committed to providing greater assistance to students in making careers and education choices as a means to improve educational and life outcomes and to enhance the responsiveness of the higher education system. To this end, the Government has developed a web site, Ten Fields of Study, which provides online information on courses offered at Australian universities. The web site is targeted to both Australian and international markets, and the latest information is supplied on an ongoing basis by Australian universities.

RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN AUSTRALIAN UNVERSITIES

Universities have a key role in Australia's national research and innovation system, as major contributors to the generation and transmission of knowledge. Many of our leading university researchers have world standing in their field of research. Universities also play a primary part in the selection, training and professional development of Australia's researchers of the future.

The higher education research sector accounts for some 27 per cent of national expenditure on research and development and 78 per cent of all expenditure on basic research. Australia's universities provide research training opportunities for more than 30 000 postgraduate student at any one time, of whom some 5000 graduate each year.

The Australian Research Council provides advice to the Commonwealth Government on research issues and administers the competitive funding process for a significant part of the targeted research funding provided to universities.

In recent years, Australian universities have been encouraged to be more involved in research collaboration with the end users of research. Commonwealth programs such as the Strategic Partnerships with Industry — Research and Training Scheme and the Cooperative Research Centres program assist this objective. These programs enable universities to connect with the national innovation system in fields as diverse as manufacturing, information and communication technology, energy, agribusiness, the environment and health and pharmaceuticals.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Each year, Australia welcomes an increasing number of overseas students to its universities, institutes, colleges and schools. Preliminary estimates indicate that in 2000 there were about 150 000 international students in Australia, up 14 per cent on 1998. Another 31 500 international students were enrolled in Australian universities offshore, an increase of 20 per cent, bringing the total number of international students to 182 000. Most (over 75 per cent) undertook courses in the higher education and vocational education sectors. The most popular fields of study were business, administration and economics.

In the past decade, education has become one of Australia's key exports, predicted to earn approximately A$3.7 billion in 2000. In this area Australia ranks third in the English-speaking world behind the United States and Britain. The number of overseas students in the higher education sector in Australia is increasing at a far greater rate than those of its larger competitors.

Australia also has internationally competitive vocational and school-level education and a strong English-language training sector.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS STATISTICS

• more than 180,000 international students study in Australian education and training institutions each year
• more than 80 per cent are from Asia
• more than 1000 institutions are registered to deliver courses to international students in Australia
• about 3000 formal international agreements exist between Australian and overseas universities
• Australia has the third largest number of international students in the English speaking world behind the USA and UK, and in some countries Australia is the students' first choice study destination

During the peak enrolment period for international students in Australia, December 1999-February 2000, there were almost 30,000 students visas issued offshore, representing an overall growth of just under 10 per cent on the same period last year. In fact, the number of visas issued offshore in January 2000 is the greatest monthly number ever. These figures augur well for the continued growth in international student enrolments in Australia.The top 10 student source countries are all in Australia's region. The largest number of students (19 700) came from Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia, each with more than 17 000.

FURTHER INFORMATION

ph: 1800 659 579
fax: 02 6240 7196
aei@detya.gov.au
www.studyinaustralia.gov.au
www.detya.gov.au
www.aqf.edu.au
www.go8.edu.au