Last week, ARA General Manager – Workforce, Fiona Love, attended a briefing roundtable to hear feedback from the Hon Jason Clare, Federal Minister for Education, on the recently released Australian Universities Accord Final Report.

The session was held in the EY offices in Sydney with several universities present, TAFE NSW and the ARA representing the rail industry.

The Report contains 47 recommendations and targets to reform higher education, including increasing from 60 per cent to 80 per cent of the workforce with a VET or university qualification by 2050.

To realise the full benefit of achieving the 80 per cent target, it will be essential that the system reforms are closely aligned to industry’s needs and support sustainable economic growth and prosperity.

The session was particularly interesting in relation to the government’s focus on promoting and supporting learning pathways between vocational and higher education. The ARA has been working with both TAFE and universities to develop rail-specific courses, as well as developing industry-driven non-accredited courses. It was encouraging to hear that there will be opportunities for the rail industry for creating pathways that may include non-accredited and accredited training.