UNE and the New England Institute of TAFE are collaborating to provide online degree programs with embedded vocational qualifications.
The programs will allow students to graduate with a UNE degree and, along the way, acquire a succession of VET (vocational education and training) qualifications through TAFE. They will also allow students to exit from — and re-enter — the degree program at various points along the way after acquiring the VET qualifications.
“Employers are, increasingly, seeking people who are work-ready as well as having a university degree,” said Eve Woodberry, UNE’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Students and Social Inclusion.
“These new programs will enable students to work towards vocational and university qualifications concurrently, and graduate with two or more qualifications.”
Ms Woodberry explained that UNE already had “vertical articulation” arrangements with TAFE, under which students with VET qualifications could enrol in a UNE degree program at an advanced level.
The first of the “concurrent articulation” programs being developed are in the fields of agri-foods (business and technology) and health and community services. “These are both areas in which employers want people with practical skills rather than graduates who they have to send back to TAFE for practical training,” Ms Woodberry said.
“Overall, we’ll be working in areas where there is a well-documented demand for people with these kinds of qualifications, and we’ll be seeking partnerships with employer groups that have an interest in employing such people.”
These first two programs should be open for enrolment in 2014. Their development is one of eight projects being undertaken at UNE, with the support of a $36.6 million grant from the Australian Government’s Structural Adjustment Fund, aimed at aligning UNE degree programs with regional workforce requirements.
