Alternative Strategies for Higher Education Provision at TAFE Queensland

Australia's tertiary education and training sector consists of Higher Education, predominantly funded and controlled by the Federal Government, and Vocational Education and Training (VET) where both the Federal and State Governments have policy and funding responsibilities. While there has been increasing funding and stable policy in Higher Education over the past decade there has been significant change in the Australian VET sector in policy and reduced funding at both the Federal and State Government levels. TAFE Queensland, the public VET provider in the state of Queensland, has undergone a huge transformation of its own over this period of extensive policy change. As a result of policy and organisational changes TAFE Queensland has had, and will continue to have to seek alternatives to ensure that students who choose to study at this public provider are able to access higher education courses. This paper outlines various policy change impacts over the past decade and TAFE Queensland's innovative approach to ensuring that quality applied degrees are available to interested students who prefer to study with this major public vocational education provider.