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Admission to Australian Universities.

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Title: Admission to Australian Universities.
Language: English
Authors: Pascoe, Robert
Source: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. May 1999 21(1):17-30.
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 14
Publication Date: 1999
Intended Audience: Administrators; Practitioners
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Descriptors: College Administration, College Admission, College Credits, Foreign Countries, Higher Education, Open Enrollment, Open Universities, Student Recruitment, Transfer Policy
Geographic Terms: Australia
ISSN: 1360-080X
Abstract: Development of a national higher education market in Australia provides the opportunity for open-access universities to develop recruitment strategies based on the experience of North American institutions. Implications are drawn for focusing on student learning potential, reorganizing the curriculum, integrating recruitment and teaching/learning concepts, sharing responsibility for learning, and adopting multiple pedagogies. (MSE)
Entry Date: 2000
Accession Number: EJ591449
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0002157045;0V101MAY.99;2001Jan18.16:28;v4.1</anid> <title id="AN0002157045-1">ADMISSION TO AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES </title> <p>ABSTRACT Australian Universities have been historically reluctant to pursue innovative methods of student selection and recruitment. The development of a national market in the higher education market provides the opportunity for 'open access' universities to embark on strategies of recruitment based on the experience and practices of certain North American institutions. </p> <p>There is surprisingly little written about the processes used by Australian universities to admit their students.(<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref1">n1</reflink>) This paper will offer a quick sketch of Australian developments in recent decades, will survey recent literature, particularly from the United States, will address the closely related issue of credit transfer, will briefly comment on new educational technologies, and will suggest some of the policy implications from this research for the implementation of the 'Open University' concept. </p> <hd id="AN0002157045-2"> An Historic Overview of Australian Admissions Practices </hd> <p>Australia's first universities were established from the middle of the nineteenth century, largely in the British mould, mostly by government initiative and grants supplemented by private benefactions and student tuition fees. For a century they remained small institutions, largely peripheral to mainstream Australian society. Admission to any faculty was open to anyone who could matriculate--complete satisfactorily the final year of secondary schooling--and pay the tuition fees, which were about one-third of the cost of tuition. Universities drew their students from the comfortable professional and mercantile classes which could afford to support their offspring through their university years but which were not quite wealthy enough to send their children to universities overseas, the preferred destination of the small wealthy elite. A few students from modest backgrounds were able to put themselves through university by attending evening classes after work, or if they did not live within commuting distance of a university, by studying by correspondence. </p> <p>The maturation of the baby-boom generation to university-attending age and the expansion of a comfortable middle class with aspirations for their children's admission to the professions put considerable pressures on the sector to expand from the 1960s. Quotas or limits on the number of students admitted by a faculty were first imposed in 1961 and were universal by the end of the decade. Universities grew quickly in size, several new universities were established and government support for higher education expanded considerably, especially from the Commonwealth Government, which correspondingly increased its influence at the expense of that previously shared with state governments. </p> <p>During the 1980s a concerted effort was made by the Commonwealth Government to increase the number of student places in Australian universities, and to ensure that a fair share of those new places went to groups of Australians who had historically missed out on educational opportunity. So pragmatic is the Australian intellectual environment that this policy was developed without much explicit rhetoric. In the best traditions of the capital of 'steering from a distance', the bureaucratic device used was to require an Equity Plan from each institution as it applied to join the new Unified National System (1989). Seldom did the universities themselves proclaim a rhetoric about equity. At the same time as the system was growing in size, each of the states rationalised its upper secondary school curriculum into a generic credential--typified by the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)--which catered for all students, regardless of whether they intended to apply for a university place or not.(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref2">n2</reflink>) The generic credential replaced the motley collection of specific-purpose credentials that had grown up historically. Although some private schools later introduced the International Baccalaureate (1B), by and large the VCE and its equivalent credentials in other states became the Australian norm by the end of the 1980s. </p> <p>This was where matters stood at the turn of the decade. Across Australia in 1991, a total of 137,984 students were admitted to Bachelor's Pass courses. Only 72,655 came straight from school. The next largest category had already begun a university course at another institution (<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref3">18</reflink>,<reflink idref="bib103" id="ref4">103</reflink>), or had already completed such a course (<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref5">14</reflink>,076). The next biggest groups were 'miscellaneous' (8960), via an incomplete TAFE (Technical and Further Education) course (4437), by mature-age entry (7681), other special entry (3561), a TAFE secondary course (3127), a professional qualification (2542), via an exam conducted by the university itself (2327), or on the basis of employment experience (<reflink idref="bib515" id="ref6">515</reflink>) (Gallagher, 1993, p. 197). In short, the Australian university admissions system was and remains far more diverse than is broadly recognised, and, as the Higher Education Council pointed out when these data were developed, many students might well be admitted on the basis of more than one category. Examples of the various means of assessment included: 'previous academic studies, including TAFE and higher education; professional and para-professional qualifications, for example, teaching and nursing; challenge testing; completion of essays or assignments; language testing; auditions and presentation of portfolios; interviews; successful performance in bridging programs; assessment of student motivation; assessment of likelihood of completing the course; references or supporting statements from employers; and vocational experience' (Gallagher, 1993, pp. 196, 198). Most medical schools now use interviews to test the non-academic qualities of each applicant. (Newcastle, Monash and Adelaide for admission to their undergraduate courses; Hinders, Queensland and Sydney for admission to their graduate medical programmes. See, for example, Tutton 1994.) </p> <p>Despite this variety, the reporting systems operate on the presumption that relative performance at the VCE is the dominant category of admission, and almost all the market-sensitive information about the quality and standard of entrants is predicated on the easily quantifiable data derived from the VCE. The Australian system of tertiary selection relies strongly on the relative aggregate mark of final-year high-school students, ranking them with what is called in the Australian state of Victoria a TER (Tertiary Entrance Rank) or in other states (less correctly) a TES (Tertiary Entrance Score). Although, as we have seen, in point of fact, only half the applicants throughout the Australian system gain entry to tertiary education solely on the basis of their TER, nonetheless the TER cut-offs for each course are carefully calibrated, published and syndicated through newspapers, guides to university choice, and elsewhere. One's TER becomes a measure of one's ability and provides students with a sense of their position in the 'market'. Universities with a higher than average proportion of non-traditional admissions include: Charles Sturt University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Western Sydney, Deakin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and the University of South Australia (Gallagher, 1993, p. 198). In comparative terms, Victoria University was in 1991 quite traditional in its intake. No Australian university, however, was dramatically different from its rivals. </p> <p>Moreover, the infrastructure provided for prospective students is predicated on the assumption that the VCE is the dominant mode of entry. Students completing the final year of high school are reasonably well guided in the Australian system. They are coached by teachers and counsellors on the intricacies of the selection process for admission into university courses, and errors in form filling or deadlines missed can be rectified quite easily. The same kind of assistance is not provided for non-school-leavers. For example, the American concept of a Dean of Admissions is unknown in Australia. The onus is put on the prospective student to know something about the particular courses on offer, and there is little emphasis on active recruitment. </p> <p>So deeply entrenched was this paradigm that until the creation of the Unified National System universities were bound by convention not to advertise their courses in newspapers. The Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs) were not so coy, or sometimes more desperate for students, and did indeed take out large display advertisements in the metropolitan dailies. This was regarded as 'poor form' by the traditional universities, who relied on the invisible networks of private schools and alumni when they became parents to send them the best students. Melbourne trams headed toward Carlton carried the address 'University' long after Monash, La Trobe and Deakin were created because everyone 'knew' what 'University' meant, just as telephonists at Nedlands and North Terrace answered the phone with 'University' years after Murdoch and Flinders universities were formed and WAIT (Western Australian Institute of Technology) became Curtin University. There was an air of complacency in such characterisations. </p> <p>The Australian system also had plenty of part-time provision, especially by comparison with Britain, and by 1996 this provision remained high, with 40% of total enrolments. This development, which can be traced back to the late nineteenth century, owes much to the pragmatic need to fill courses, and little to arguments about equity and access (Moodie, 1992). It required an expensive public education program to persuade women to attempt non-traditional areas such as science and engineering. No comparable programme has ever been funded to encourage men to try out for nursing or arts. </p> <p>Pragmatic considerations prompted the mature-age entry schemes, such as in 1969 when the New South Wales secondary system was lengthened by a year and the universities had to survive for a year without a regular intake of matriculants. Similarly, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Australian higher education institutions suffered falling demand and again consequent difficulties in filling quotas. They responded by introducing and greatly expanding mature-age special entry schemes. While institutions based in the major population centres were readily accessible to this new student group, those in regional areas were not so accessible, and responded by developing or markedly expanding their distance education programmes. </p> <p>Australia has a relatively high proportion of external university students, at just over 13% of total enrolments. The earliest forms of distance education in Australia were established to overcome the geographical distance of students from the universities in the metropolitan capitals. There was a great expansion of distance education enrolments from the late 1970s, but not at the institutions in the capital cities which provided the earliest forms of distance education. The expansion took place at regional institutions: the University of New England at Armidale, Deakin University at Geelong, Warrnambool Institute, Gippsland Institute, Riverine Institute, Capricornia Institute in Rockhampton, and Darling Downs Institute. </p> <p>The expansion of distance education enrolments did not reflect an expansion of the rural population; quite the contrary. Neither did it achieve a proportional level of participation by people from rural and isolated areas. Thc new distance education students were mature-age students in major metropolitan centres who found on-campus study inconvenient or impossible, due to their family or work commitments. The expansion of distance education from the late 1970s had the effect, therefore, not of overcoming the distance from metropolitan institutions for regional students, but of overcoming the distance between regional institutions and metropolitan students (Moodie, 1993). </p> <p>In short, Australian higher education has been comparatively open in developing and offering flexible modes of study, but has been remarkably closed in its student selection. The progress registered has been for pragmatic institutional reasons, aided by the idealism of certain individuals. Therefore, despite the absolute increase in Australian university student numbers during the 1980s, not surprisingly, there has not been a parallel improvement in the proportion of students from non-traditional backgrounds successfully entering Australian universities, according to recent research.(<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref7">n3</reflink>) </p> <p>Another way of describing the comparatively conservative Australian system is to say that it has not yet outgrown its elite origins, and that the massification of the university system has occurred within the administrative and cultural framework of an older and traditionally British system. This conservatism has been noted by policy analysts since at least as far back as the Henderson Commission's landmark report on Australian poverty (Fitzgerald, 1976, pp. 162-165). Commissioner Fitzgerald was quite blunt: 'We believe that if vast amounts of public money continue to be spent on university education, universities must be made to justify their entry policies, which at present exclude all but a few poor people. The myth that the "poor bright kid" will win through no matter what must be laid to rest' (p. 165). </p> <p>One of the Commission's suggestions was that Australia should introduce the American idea of community colleges (Fitzgerald, 1976, pp. 165-168). Over the next 20 years the same idea was put forward many times, but was never taken up, much less seriously discussed (Beswick et al., 1983; NBEET, 1993a, p. 108; Heinemann, 1993; Pascoe, R., 1995). The project foundered not through serious critique (which would have exposed some of the inherent difficulties and flaws in the American system) but for the more banal reasons of complacent neglect. Each time the community college idea appears, it has been as if the idea was being tested for the first time. This is a striking example of amnesia in policy development. </p> <p>In brief, we can summarise the Australian selection processes for entry into universities by describing them as fundamentally more conservative than their US counterparts. </p> <hd id="AN0002157045-3"> Contemporary Literature on University Selection Processes </hd> <p>In the late 1990s, the Australian system of university student admissions is coming back into policy consideration. One of the nation's 36 public universities, Melbourne's Victoria University, has declared that it intends to become 'Australia's Open University', which can be broadly interpreted as a gesture toward a more liberal, US-style system. </p> <p>What does that system look like? The US system is anchored by the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the SAT, administered to final-year high school students, and the PSAT (Preliminary SAT), administered in the penultimate year of high school. The curriculum and the assessment of students who wish to go on to tertiary study are thus decoupled. There is no equivalent of an Australian HSC or VCE, a fact that may strike Australian observers as odd. Standardised testing has a unique place in the culture of American schooling. Test validity thus enjoys a priority over test reliability (Pascoe, S., 1995, pp. 14-15). But this is not the essential difference between the Australian and the American systems, for many US universities and colleges in fact concentrate more on 'recruitment' than on 'selection', and it is to these innovative programmes of recruitment that we need to turn if we are to suggest fresh strategies for student admission which may be worth considering in the Australian context. Two quick examples will illustrate. One would be to delegate to certain alumni the right to make pre-offers on behalf of the university in particular schools or districts. Another is to make dyadic offers, that is, offers to both daughters and mothers, as a way of increasing their chances of success. A variant of this system is used among Hispanic women in Texas (Hernandez, 1995). The reason for this is political, as the pressure on American universities and colleges comes from the state legislatures: rhetoric is the motor of change, not mere pragmatics. </p> <p>The success rates of students from non-traditional backgrounds are not as high as those of mainstream students. Canada's University of Alberta reports significantly lower Grade Point Averages (GPAs) for students who had matriculated (Golec et al., 1995). At the University of California at San Diego, transfer students had slightly lower success rates than regular freshmen (Dupraw & Michael, 1995). This cannot be used as an excuse not to try, but must lead to the conclusion that a half-baked alternative system is worse than no system at all. There are clearly defined critical success factors in maximising the progress of non-traditional students. One of the shrewder ways of delineating these critical success factors is to identify those American universities with the best success rates in getting Indian, Hispanic and Black students through to doctoral studies in engineering and science, and then surveying those particular universities (Brazziel & Brazziel, 1995). Certain distinctive characteristics stand out: (i) total commitment of the trustee board and the central administration team, (ii) satisfaction levels of faculty members, (iii) alumni or community contacts who help in recruiting students, (iv) pre-college bridge programmes, (v) campus bridge programmes that aim at turning B students into A students, (vi) the involving of students in undergraduate research, (vii) application to programmes that support minority initiatives, (viii) student mentoring, (ix) support and encouragement of campus chapters of national minority organisations, (x) support of student attendance at conferences, (xi) use of alumni role models, (xii) preparation for high scores on the Graduate Record Examination, (xiii) search for assistantships and fellowships for doctoral study for graduates, (xiv) annual report cards on the progress and achievement of the minority initiative, and (xv) participation with other institutions, corporations and churches in efforts to broaden the pool of minority children and youth. Each of these areas may be addressed in some detail. </p> <p>(i) Total Commitment of the Trustee Board and the Central Administration Team </p> <p>There is no doubt that the leaders of the college must be committed. This commitment is always very public and is often linked to the ambition of individual states or groups of states to bring about change. State Governors led the reform movement in schools during the 1980s; in the 1990s a consortium of Governors across the western United States have championed the Western Governors University (WGU). The WGU materials are very explicit about the new university's aims (Western Governor's University, current). </p> <p>(ii) Satisfaction Levels of Faculty Members </p> <p>The staff teaching in the universities have to be brought along with the reforms in selection processes. In particular, they must see that different learning strategies are related to different cultural backgrounds, that there is no one 'academic' style appropriate to all students. The success of their students must inform and influence the professional career of these academics. Recruitment of staff from non-traditional backgrounds is often associated with such reform (Melnick & Zeichner, 1995). </p> <p>It is also important to create a university climate where mainstream students are understanding and sympathetic to the needs and aspirations of non-traditional classmates. Although some students have difficulty with notions of the public good ('collective accountability'), virtually none of them denied the culture shock of being on campus experienced by minorities (Lipson, 1996). </p> <p>(iii) Alumni or Community Contacts Who Help in Recruiting Students </p> <p>Spotting potential talent, and wooing that student to the university, is essential. </p> <p>(iv) Pre-college Bridge Programmes </p> <p>Many non-traditional students in the US do not enjoy the benefits of a good high-school education, essentially because the system is locally financed and overwhelmingly public (90%, compared to Australia's 71%) (Pascoe, S., 1995, pp. 6-7). </p> <p>(v) Campus Bridge Programmes that Aim at Turning B Students into A Students </p> <p>Writing labs and other innovative systems of instruction are available in community colleges for B-grade students. These innovations in educational technology were taken up by the four-year schools and are now standard. </p> <p>(vi) The Involving of Students in Undergraduate Research </p> <p>There should be opportunities within the university for more successful students to enter an honours stream, or the institution will simply lose its brighter students to more prestigious universities. This is one of the features of the US system, where the community colleges now take in more than half (55%) of the new students each year, only to lose them to other colleges and universities as the abler students 'transfer'. Good rates of transfer make one community college more successful than its neighbours, but there can never develop, even in the best community colleges, a full-blown research culture. Given the role of an undergraduate research culture in assisting non-traditional students to make good progress, this feature of community colleges is somewhat at odds with the achievement of their main goal. The development of honours programmes has been identified in Georgia as one of several success factors (University System of Georgia, 1994). Of all the areas of appropriate course design, the question of developing an undergraduate research culture stands out. </p> <p>(vii) Application to Programmes that Support Minority Initiatives </p> <p>The US has a range and diversity of philanthropic agencies that are keen to support fresh ideas in higher education. Even before it opens its doors, the Western Governors University has already received US$500,000 from the Sloan Foundation to assist in fundraising. </p> <p>(viii) Student Mentoring </p> <p>There must be put in place an adequate mentoring system. Initial advising procedures can have a profound effect on the subsequent academic performance of minority students. The 'learning community' model (Gabelnick et al., 1990) provides one paradigm of group mentoring. Brigham Young University uses a computerised system which includes all data from each student's feeder college in order to facilitate credit transfer, course advice and academic counselling (Tanner, 1994). </p> <p>(ix) Support and Encouragement of Campus Chapters of National Minority Organisations </p> <p>National political organisations understand the value of creating campus chapters for future members and supporters. </p> <p>(x) Support of Student Attendance at Conferences </p> <p>The big US academic conferences have a more pastoral role in nurturing young talent than their British or Australian equivalents. </p> <p>(xi) Use of Alumni Role Models </p> <p>This is a culture where older successful people are open about describing their own life stories. </p> <p>(xii) Preparation for High Scores on the Graduate Record Examination The GRE has a role in the US system similar to that of the SAT, measuring aptitude for graduate studies. Some states also mandate a College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) to check the mathematical and communication skills of associate degree students applying to transfer from the community colleges to the four-year schools (Florida State Department of Education, 1994). </p> <p>(xiii) Search for Assistantships and Fellowships for Doctoral Study for Graduates </p> <p>This factor depends upon winning major research grants. </p> <p>(xiv) Annual Report Cards on the Progress and Achievement of the Minority Initiative </p> <p>These annual report cards give the college a shared sense of achievement. </p> <p>(xv) Participation with other institutions, corporations and churches in efforts to broaden the pool of minority children and youth </p> <p>Churches are integral to the cultural life of America's minorities. </p> <hd id="AN0002157045-4"> Credit Transfer in Australian Tertiary Education </hd> <p>Credit transfer--the granting of advanced standing in tertiary studies--has been one of the key areas of interest for Australia's National Board of Employment, Education and Training, with no fewer than eight publications devoted to the subject between 1989 and 1994. </p> <p>A national system for recognising course credit from one tertiary programme for the purpose of continuing in another one was stimulated by the 1988 decision of the Australian arbitration authorities to embark on thc process of award restructuring. Education and training were thus brought closer together for industrial reasons (NBEET, 1989, p. iv). The existing policy of 'articulation' was working well in the TAFE system, and it was proposed to extend the concept of credit transfer more broadly. An element of national regulation was proposed, including the notion of allocating subquotas in particular courses for articulating students (NBEET, 1989, p. xiii). It was noted that very little credit for 'work experience of training provided in-house by employers' took place in Australia (NBEET, 1989, p. 3). A national approach to credit transfer would reduce the scope of individual departments or institutions to decide particular cases on an ad hoc basis. </p> <p>Attempts to introduce standard course nomenclature across Australian tertiary education provided thc groundwork for credit transfer. The immediate effect of this reform was in TAFE, where the national accreditation of formerly state-wide courses became a possibility for the first time in the history of the training system (NBEET, 1989, p. 19). Three other important issues on the policy horizon in 1989 were the consequences for TAFE programmes of increased school retention rates, the spread of competency-based training, and the new avenues to universities and colleges of advanced education (CAEs) on offer to TAFE graduates. </p> <p>In July 1991 the National Board of Employment, Education and Training (NBEET) was formally requested by the Minister to report annually over the next three years on the development of the credit transfer processes. NBEET adopted a consultative forum approach. </p> <p>By 1992 it was argued by some that a university credit bank was the best way to advance the credit transfer model in Australia (NBEET, 1992, p. 3). The granting of credit were not to be used as a lever to gain admission to a particular programme, however, as enrolment and the provision of credit were quite separate issues (NBEET, 1992, p. 9). Here the institutional context is important to recall: students were paying fees again, under the new Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), the binary divide in higher education had dissolved, and TAFE colleges were sometimes joined formally to universities, particularly in Victoria. It was now conceded that all kinds of learning, ranging from the unstructured experiential kind all the way through to university degree studies, were along the same continuum, except that at some point learners passed from 'surface' to 'deep' approaches (NBEET, 1992, p. 13). Once this principle was accepted, it was possible to imagine a calculus of credit points that could be accrued, banking-style. </p> <p>Resistance to the automatic provision of credit remained strong in certain universities, where knowledge and its application were understood to be highly particularised and teacher centred ('If I haven't taught it to them, they don't know it') (NBEET, 1992, p. 30). A second issue, often called the 'transfer/terminal dilemma', fundamentally questioned whether a student undertaking learning for the purpose of going on with further programmes is in a different situation from one who is not (NBEET, 1992, p. 46). American community colleges often separate these two kinds of learner. In other words, the domain issues of learning could be seen to be as important as the content issues: another instance of this generic problem is the difficulty in keeping some sense of coherence in the programme when students join it with varying types of advanced standing (NBEET, 1992, p. 55). </p> <p>Just as the academic success rates of ex-community-college students in four-year schools was a topic of American research, so too was the performance of former TAFE students in Australian university courses. These studies, although spotty in coverage, suggested the ex-TAFE students were performing creditably, particularly at Wollongong (NBEET, 1992, p. 66). </p> <p>In March-April 1991, directors of admissions across the 59 Australian institutes of higher education were asked several questions about credit transfer for TAFE students: almost all institutions accepted the concept in principle, although most also had not conducted any research about their comparative performance (NBEET, 1992, pp. 68-78). </p> <p>Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) made a formal appearance in NBEET policy documents at this time, with an account of the system of questionnaire and interview used in the Deakin course Bachelor of Applied Science (Technology Management). Industry representatives in the course design team successfully argued the case for RPL in a course that so strongly interacted with cutting-edge technologies (NBEET, 1992, pp. 151-152). </p> <p>By 1993, when credit transfer was a concept formally embedded in the discourse of all tertiary educators, including vice-chancellors, the main argument for its significance was less likely to be individual social justice, and more likely to be one of national economic efficiency (NBEET, 1993b, p. 13). A New South Wales survey indicated that TAFE students were still reluctant applicants to older universities, where their chances of obtaining credit transfer were weaker. Meanwhile, the ex-TAFE students at Wollongong were still performing comparatively well (NBEET, 1993b, p. 25). </p> <p>The argument for a transfer course on the American community college model was now put: these two-year programmes would be called Associate Degrees to distinguish them from Associate Diplomas. The Associate in Arts (AA) or the Associate in Science (AS) would be a particularly helpful qualification for regional centres where universities could not provide full degrees (NBEET, 1993b, p. 46). The new Australian Standards Framework (ASF) offered an academic qualifications structure within which credit transfer could be regularised nationally (NBEET, 1993b, p. 47). </p> <p>Important theoretical advances were made in 1993. Articulation was agreed often to include a guarantee of admission, while credit transfer was not tied to a fixed pathway. RPL was now understood to include three domains of previous informal learning: from life experience (volunteer and community work; self-instruction as in hobbies; significant and relevant learning experiences), from non-credentialled courses (non-credentialled professional courses; continuing education courses; in-house training courses; adult education courses), and from work experience (participation in R&D; informal learning; on-the-job training) (NBEET, 1993b, p. 58). RPL is as applicable when assessing whether employees are ready for a more responsible role in the workplace as it is for credit transfer: it has an industrial as much as an educational role. </p> <p>University critics of the national reform agenda, while denying that universities were elitist opponents of credit transfer, argued that competency-based education and training (CBET) could not fully comprehend 'the higher-order skills of conceptualisation, analysis, cognition, intellectual creativity and imagination': these were the skills with which universities are 'essentially' concerned (NBEET, 1993b, p. 118). </p> <p>The suggestion was also made that Australia should adopt the American community college model, developing senior or liberal arts colleges spanning Years 11-14. This would provide a sounder institutional structure for credit transfer and articulation (NBEET, 1993b, p. 108). </p> <p>By 1994 greater attention was being paid to credit transfer across state lines, and to the development of a networked approach to the issue. The recorded proportion of university students obtaining credit rose from 27% in 1992 to 40% in 1993. Only 14% received credit for informal studies or experience (NBEET, 1994, pp. 4-5). The flow of students from university to TAFE now appeared in the policy literature, but the size of this movement was not yet known (NBEET, 1994, p. 6). The opportunity cost of RPL, since universities cannot charge for it, was also signalled as an issue. Although little had been achieved in creating an Australian credit bank, the continued success of overseas examples, such as Britain's CATS(Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme) was noted. </p> <p>The National Qualifications Framework and the principles of training embodied in NFROT (National Framework for the Recognition of Training) promised a stronger regulatory mechanism than earlier regimes (NBEET, 1994, p. 15). Industry was as much interested in Recognition of Current Competence (RCC) as RPL, that is, what people could actually do as well as what they had previously learnt (NBEET, 1994, p. 29). </p> <p>In much the same way as the debates had overlooked the possibility of university to TAFE transfer, the connection between academic learning and prior (for which read workplace) learning could be turned on its head. In other words, it became important to examine the vocational relevance of university courses, even generic ones, as part of the broader RPL discussion (NBEET, 1994, pp. 17-18). Did university academics tend to favour some work-related skills to the detriment of others? Indeed, could job skills be shown to be embedded even in the most generic of tertiary courses? </p> <p>Research that addressed the domains in which learning took place indicated a far greater role for the workplace than is generally recognised (Golding et al., 1996). The flow of students from higher education to TAFE is also far greater than recognised. </p> <p>Nonetheless, by 1996 it was clear that the idea of a system-wide RPL structure was dead. The Higher Education Funding Report for the 1997-1999 triennium (Minister for Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra, 17 December 1966, pp. 23-24) gives this obituary for ACTA: </p> <ulist> <item>3.11 ACTA was to have provided a service for enquirers who sought advice on the national recognition of prior credentialled learning or an assessment of prior learning either credentialled by other providers or uncredentialled. </item> <item>3.12 In June 1996 the Board of ACTA concluded, in view of the inadequate conversion rate of initial inquiries to paid assessment and the low level of support from universities for the proposed agreement with ACTA on referral of applicants, that the recognition of prior learning...functions of the Agency be discontinued... The system is poorer for the loss of ACTA's RPL role; nonetheless, individual universities will presumably continue to deal directly with particular TAFE colleges around these issues. </item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0002157045-5"> Developments in Course Delivery Systems </hd> <p>Innovation in course delivery systems has typically occurred in Australia within existing universities rather than as stand-alone projects. After Britain's Open University was successfully launched in 1969, there were advocates for an Australian equivalent (Karmel, 1975). However, the universities that then existed opposed vehemently the establishment of an open university, as proposed in the 1974 discussion draft of the Committee reporting to the Universities Commission, and were equally effective in blocking the establishment of the much diluted proposal for a National Institute of Open Tertiary Education (NIOTE) in the final report. As with the sorry tale of ACTA, these attempts at system-wide reform are easily blocked by the universities acting in concert. A truly 'Open University' for Australia would need to develop on its own. </p> <p>It is always true that modes of teaching/learning are contingent upon the types of educational technology currently available. The large lecture theatres in the sandstone-clad universities stand in contrast to the larger number of seminar rooms in the newer universities. The technologies when Britain's Open University was founded, for example, comprised both television and tutor-student correspondence, while the new technologies of electronic bulletin-boards, CD-ROMs, the World Wide Web and so on make for exciting new possibilities in the late 1990s. Recent research on the connections between new technologies and higher education in Australia offers glimpses of the future (Cochrane et al., 1993; Tinkler et al., 1996). Of course, the technologies do not cause any change in academic practice in and of themselves: Fred Jevons always complained that the Deakin of his day, while proclaiming that it was 'an open and regional university', was nevertheless 'in the grip of print'. </p> <p>Again, the US experience makes for an interesting contrast. The Western Governors University is an entirely new entity, a 'virtual university' being constructed from the ground up, offering all its programmes directly on the Web. The source of this change is of course political, with the state Governors wanting new educational opportunities in and across their jurisdictions. (The early indications of student demand, however, are not strong. It may prove that distributed learning networks become more popular than totally 'virtual' campuses.) </p> <p>The other force for change in this area is the necessity for more creative course design and delivery systems in order to cater for international students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. If one weakness of the traditional university system was that it catered for only elite students (whom the academics regarded as intellectual clones of themselves), another weakness was the assumption of cultural homogeneity. Australian universities like Murdoch, which seek to increase their Asian student intake dramatically, are experimenting with new course designs (Pearson & Beasley, 1996). </p> <hd id="AN0002157045-6"> Conclusion </hd> <p>From this rapid sketch of the history and politics of the Open University concept in Australia it is possible to suggest some of the policy and operational options that may take it further. </p> <p>1. A change in the paradigm shared by members of Council, senior management and faculty staff from selecting applicants closest to and therefore most able to receive and transmit an authoritative body of specialised knowledge and skills, to recruiting students for whom the university can offer an opportunity to develop their higher learning. </p> <ulist> <item>2. A change from the organisation of faculty and courses by level and course specialisation to groupings by broad fields of study. </item> <item>3. A transformation of admission, teaching, assessment and graduation from a series of segmented processes imposing a single model to a collaborative design of individual programmes that integrate recruitment, pre-admission, teaching/learning and graduation/exit programmes around the background, skills and interests of each student. </item> <item>4. A change from the division of responsibilities between individual students and members of faculty to a sharing of responsibilities by involving selected alumni, employers, community leaders and senior students in different phases of the admission, teaching/learning and graduation programmes. </item> <item>5. Rejecting the single model or paradigm of scholarship and expertise (in each field) in favour of faculty and academic support services such as tile library and computer centre adopting multiple pedagogies and support for different learning strategies and teaching/learning modes. </item> <item>6. Seeking to develop in all students an aspiration and capacity for learning and research at its highest level. </item> </ulist> <p>Adoption of such an approach would require a radical change by any Australian university, in contrast with the US, which supports a number of exemplars of the open university approach. Yet the pragmatism that has characterised much university reform in Australia may stimulate interest in thc open university model as one response to the challenges of further cuts in government funding, the anticipated effects of new technologies, and the prospect of competition from outside the sector and internationally. </p> <p>Correspondence: Professor Robert Pascoe, Faculty of Arts, Victoria University of Technology, PO box 14428, Melbourne 8001. Tel.: + 61 (0)3 9365 2795; Fax: + 61 (0)3 9365 2242; E-mail: Robert.Pascoe@vut.edu.au. </p> <ref id="AN0002157045-7"> <title>NOTES</title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref1" type="bt">(n1.)</bibl> <bibtext>Many thanks to those who helped with this paper, including Mark Armstrong-Roper (Victoria University of Technology), Kerry Mann (Open University, UK), Gavin Moodie (Victoria University of Technology), Richard L. Moore (UNC Greensboro) and Bob Vozzella (Northeastern University). A related paper by R. Pascoe, A. McClelland and B. McGaw deals with the question of student selection. See Perspectives on Selection Methods for Entry into Higher Education in Australia, Commissioned Report No. 58, NBEET, December 1997. </bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref2" type="bt">(n2.)</bibl> <bibtext>Rarely did the segmentation in upper-secondary schooling become explicit. In January 1997, however, the New South Wales Premier made an interesting gaffe when the low scores of working-class Mount Druitt High School were reported: 'My big message to the students at Mount Druitt is that we understand you weren't aiming for university entry...You were aiming to go into apprenticeships and TAFE courses.' (The Australian, 15 January 1997, p. 9.) </bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref7" type="bt">(n3.)</bibl> <bibtext>Gavin Moodic, 'Middle class of 96', The Australian, 11 December 1996, p. 31, reporting the work of Lamb (1996). This same research also made front-page billing in the same newspaper a few weeks later (28 January 1997, p. I). </bibtext> </blist> </ref> <p>REFERENCES </p> <p>BESWCK, D. et al. (1983) Principles for the Future Development of Community Colleges in Victoria. Melbourne: Technical and Further Education Board. </p> <p>BRAZZIEL, W. F. & BRAZZIEL, M. E. (1995) Distinctives of High Producers of Minority Science and Engineering Doctoral Starts. Mansfield Center, CT: Brazziel (Marian) Associates. </p> <p>COBBIN, D. M. & BARLOW, A. R. (Eds) (1993) Tertiary Access and Equity Initiatives: a handbook for evaluative research, Higher Education Division, DEET. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>COCHRANE, T., ELLIS, H. D. &JOHNSTON, S. L. (1993) Computer Based Education in Australian Higher Education, Higher Education Division, DEET. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>DUPRAW, C. & MICHAEL, W. B. (1995) 'Community college transfer students: comparing admission and success', College and University, 71(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref8">2</reflink>), pp. 10 18. </p> <p>FITZGERALD, R. T. (1976) Poverty and Education in Australia, Australian Government Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, Fifth Main Report, June. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>FLORIDA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (1994) College-Level Academic Skills Test: technical report, 1993-94. Tallahassee, FL. </p> <p>GABELNICK, F. et al. (1990) Learning Communities: creating connections among students, faculty and disciplines. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. </p> <p>GALLAGHER, M. (1993) National Report on Australia's Higher Education Sector, Higher Education Division, DEET. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>GOLDING, B., MARGINSON, S. & PASCOE, R. (1996) Changing Context, Moving Skills: generic skills in the context of credit transit and the recognition of prior learning. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>GOLEC, J. et al. (1995) University performance of nonmatriculated admissions, Alberta, Journal of Educational Research, 41 (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref9">4</reflink>), pp. 421 434. </p> <p>HEINEMANN, H. (1993) New approaches for adult learners: a US community college case study', Unicorn, 19(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref10">2</reflink>), pp. 8-16. </p> <p>HERNANDEZ, A. E. (1995) Enhancing the academic success of Hispanic females, Contemporary Education, 67(<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref11">1</reflink>), pp. 18-20. </p> <p>KARMEL, P. (1975) Open Tertiary Education in Australia: Final Report of the Committee on Open University to the Universities Commission, December 1974. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>LAMB, S. (1996) Completing School in Australia: changes in participation and outcomes. Melbourne: ACER. </p> <p>LIPSON, H. D. (1996) How docs race matter? White male college students' perspectives on institutional racism and affirmative action. Paper at American Educational Research Association, New York, April. </p> <p>MEIRICK, S. L. & ZEICHNER, K. M. (1995) Teacher Education for Cultural Diversity: enhancing the capacity of teacher education institutions to address diversity issues. East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. </p> <p>MOODIE, G. (1992) Founding Australia's electronic university. Invited keynote address, AITEA national conference, Ballarat. </p> <p>MOODIE, G. (1993) Speculations on the implications of 'open learning' for Australian 'distance education' futures. In T. NUNAN (Ed.) Distance Education Futures, pp. 169- 76. Adelaide: University of South Australia. </p> <p>NBEET (1989) Credit Transfer: a discussion paper, August. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>NBEET (1990) Strategies for Credit Transfer, Report of the National Board of Employment, Education and Training, December. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>NBEET (1992) Current Practices in Credit Transit and Related Issues, Occasional Paper. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>NBEET (1993a) Competency Based Approaches to University Selection and Credit Transit, Advice of the National Board of Employment, Education an Training and its Higher Education Council, May. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>NBEET (1993b) 1993 Consultative Forum on Credit Transfer and Skill Recognition, 27-28 April 1993, Melbourne; Proceedings, November. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>NBEET (1994) Credit Transfer and the Recognition of Prior Learning, October. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>NBEET Schools Council (1994) The Role of Schools in the Vocational Preparation of Australia's Senior Secondary Students, Discussion Paper. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>PASCOE, R. (1995) Transfer Between Community Colleges and Four-Year Colleges in the United States. Melbourne: Victoria University. </p> <p>PASCOE, S. (1995) The Standards Movement in America: a United States/Australia comparison, Research Paper. Canberra: DEET. </p> <p>PAUL, R. H. (1990) Open Learning and Open Management.' leadership and integrity in distance education. London: Kogan Page. </p> <p>PEARSON, C. L. & BEASLEY, C.J. (1996) Reducing learning barriers among international students: a longitudinal developmental study, Australian Educational Researcher, 23(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref12">2</reflink>), pp. 79-96. </p> <p>RAMSAY, E. et al. (1996) Outcomes of a University's Flexible Admissions Policies, Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, November. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>TANNER, J. M. (1994) The value of tracking students gathering evidence about their progress along the way. Paper at International Conference for Community College Chairs, etc., Phoenix, AZ, February. </p> <p>TINKLER, D., LEPANI, B. & MITCHELL, J. (1996) Education and Technology Convergence, Commissioned Report No. 43, Employment and Skills Council, NBEET, January. Canberra: AGPS. </p> <p>TUTTON, P.J.M. (1994) The development of a semi-structured interviewing system to be used as an adjunct to secondary schools performance for the selection of medical students, Australian Journal of Education, 38(<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref13">3</reflink>), pp. 219-232. </p> <p>UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF GEORGIA (1994) Student Retention and Graduation. Atlanta: University System of Georgia, Office of Research and Planning. </p> <p>WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY (current) WGU News. From Vision to Reality. Etc. http:<ulink href="http://www.westgov.org/">www.westgov.org/</ulink> smart/vu/vu.html. </p> <aug> <p>By Robert Pascoe, Victoria University of Technology, Australia </p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib103" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib515" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib4" firstref="ref9"></nolink>
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  Data: Development of a national higher education market in Australia provides the opportunity for open-access universities to develop recruitment strategies based on the experience of North American institutions. Implications are drawn for focusing on student learning potential, reorganizing the curriculum, integrating recruitment and teaching/learning concepts, sharing responsibility for learning, and adopting multiple pedagogies. (MSE)
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