21st Century Issues for Higher Education - Article Example

21st Century Issues for Higher Education (Australian based) Education has become one of the most important socially structured concepts, and the state in the current scenario looks at fulfilling a number of social responsibilities of which health and education are the most important. Education is believed to be the vehicle of change so that a better level of living can be achieved. Most scholars believe that social change can be bought about through education of the young mind and cultivating them to the idea and goal of development and growth. It has been observed in this process that the schools become the area which helps ensure that the change is bought about (ASQ). In other words educational institutions become the modem through which the change in the mind set of the young can be ensured so that the social scenario can be changed as a whole. Education thus becomes a very important tool in the hands of the state and the individuals. There has been observed that with the changes that have been experienced in the society there have been problems that are being experienced in the educational system of various societies. In the following paper there will be conducted a detailed discussion on the various problems that are facing the TAFE in the modern day system due to the challenges and the demands of the society. Once the problems have been identified the paper will try to develop solutions to the problems that are being faced in the modern day society. There has been observed that the educational system of the country of Australia in the past two decades has undergone a number of changes which have had a direct impact on the society of the country (Cornford I R, 2006). The various social issues that have to addressed today will be identified and through the discussion the paper will try to evolve viable solutions to these challenges of the Australian society. The educational system in the country of Australia is one which has been influenced by the policy changes of the government, both in the short run as well as in the long run. In the recent two to three years there has been observed that there has been a change in the policy of the government where the government is focusing on ensuring that the overall export of the education from the country is reduced. The policy for the changes that are desired has been adopted and these now have to be implemented into the educational system of the country. The educational system of the country underwent a major change at the end of the 20th century, where in the year of 1998 the government headed by Howard focused on ensuring that the global market of the students could be attracted to the country, and the main focus was on the countries of India and the Republic of China. The policy that was implemented by the government was highly effective, which lead to the internationalization of the educational system of the country. The effectiveness of the policy led to an influx of foreign students who usually applied for VET (Vocational Education and Training) courses. There was observed that the higher education of the country was internationalized to a large extent, where the total number of foreign students coming into the nation increased from the year of 1996 to the year of 2006 by almost a million. Due to this there was felt for improvement of educational facilities in the nation which led to the increase in the number of and there has been seen that the number of seats for foreign students also increased in the universities. The problem that arose from this set up of education was that of the students who came into the country looking for vocational education, very few apply for a working visa and then settle in the country acquiring jobs (Sydney Morning Herald 2010). This led to various problems in the social sector as well as the educational sector of the country. One of the major problems that the globalization of the educational system led to was that the number of seats that were available to the Australian students in the country reduced considerably due to the demand of the international market. This led to a fall in the literacy rate and educational level of the Australian population as a whole. The number of jobs that were available in the market also reduced considerably. There is being experienced in the country today, a phenomenon which is known as Skill crisis, where in the market there is being experienced a shortage of skilled workers, as most of the education in the country is exported. In fact public records of the government reflect that education is the third largest export in the country today, and that its contribution to the national GDP in the year of 2007 reached a total of 12.5 million dollars. The government realized that the problem that was being faced by the Australian society required a reform of the educational system. The Australian population was not being able to gain access to higher education and this was especially true in the cases of the people who belonged to the marginalized section of the society. In the year of 2008 2009 the government of the country called for a review of the educational system of the country, where the government tried to ensure that the various issues that were being faced by the educational system were identified and reformed through policy changes. The Bradley review was prepared based on which there has been announced in the year of 2010 a series of changes in the educational system of the country that are to be implemented under the Higher Educational Reform Policy which was announced by the government in the year of 2010. There have been a number of changes that have been stated in the reform policy to ensure that the educational system of the country is revived. The reforms that were announced by the deputy prime miniter of the country are: A target that by 2025, 40% of Australian 25-34 year olds will have a bachelor level or above qualification. From 2012 universities will be funded on the basis of student demand. This means the Government will fund a Commonwealth supported place for all domestic students accepted into an eligible, accredited higher education course at a recognised public higher education provider. From 2010, the current cap on over enrolment will be raised from 5 to 10 percent and removed completely in 2012. This will prevent institutions growing too quickly at the expense of providing quality education and will allow a managed transition into the new system. The Government will establish a national regulatory and quality agency for higher education. Providers will be regulated by this body, who will carry out audits of standards and performance, quality assure international education, and provide for national consistency by streamlining current regulatory arrangements (Review of the Australian Higher Education). Based on the announcements that were made by the deputy PM on 5th March, the reform ensures that there will greater focus on the regulations of the VET sector, and there will be preference given to the Australian students. The speech that she made also focused on ensuring that the educational system of the country was made more modern where there would be emphasis laid on making available to the students faster systems of education (Koleth E 2010). The government is also looking at ensuring that the overall participation of the students from low socio-economic backgrounds can also be increased in the following years by almost 20 percent so that the overall quality of education that is prevalent in the society is improved. The government is also looking at ensuring that the overall education that is provided in the country is improved through channelization of greater amounts of funds towards the educational system of the country. There fact remains that although these policies have been implemented in the country, there are still a number of issues that are being faced by the educational system of the country. One of the most important problems that is being faced by the country is that it looks at loosing a large amount of foreign revenue as a result of the policy changes that have been undertaken in the year of 2010 as the number of foreign students that can apply will be regulated by bodies which will be set up (Taylor and Francis 2008). Also the country will loose in the global market of education as the competition that it faces in the market is rather high. There are other countries which are also focusing on the Asian markets, especially UK and the changes in the policy will lead to a fall in the in flux of foreign students to the region leading to a fall in the export income of the country. Another major problem that is being faced by the TAFE and all other institutions that teach science is that the country is facing a shortage of trained teachers to teach in the classrooms. There are many scholars as well as experts in the field of education who believe that the federal government has failed to realize one of the most important problems that is being faced by the country, which is lack of skilled and trained professors to teach science in the classrooms. The Council President of the deans of science voiced the problem that was being faced and said that this is what the government should be focusing on instead of allocating more funds to the higher educational institutions in the country (Ferrari J 2007). The problem that has been recognized is that the state is not investing enough in training the teachers in the country which will lead to a shortage of teachers in the country in 5 to 10 years. The government was focusing on changing the curriculum in the classrooms, but a more organized change has to be bought about to ensure that the educational system of the country is improved upon. Ms. Bishop in response to the problems that were stated said that- “State governments have primary responsibility for developing school curriculum and supporting teachers, Greater national consistency in ... school curriculum, innovative salary structures for teachers and more support for professional development are key elements of the Howard Government agenda and will work to promote higher standards.” The discussion that has taken place in the paper above reflects that there are certain problems that are being faced by the Australian educational system and these have been reviewed in the reforms that have been bought about in the education policy by the government in the year of 2010. Yet the problem of global competition has to be better addressed by the government where the focus has to be on ensuring that the universities that are available in the country are able to meet the international standards so that their competitiveness in the global market can be maintained, while at the same time the curriculum has to be revived to meet the social needs of the economy. The lack of trained teachers also is an important issue that needs to be focused upon, where the federal government needs to channalize funds towards training of the teachers. Through the implementation of the policy changes in a practical and pragmatic manner the problems can be resolved in the long run. References: ASQ 2009: Preparing for a new school year- why quality and continuous improvement? Pub. Communities and Networking, Monday 24th, August 2009.  Cornford I R, 2006: Australian VET policy and the role of business and industry, A Referred Paper presented at the AARE Conference Adelaide, pp 3-8 Ferrari J 2007: No focus on real education problems, The Australian, August 28, 2007. Koleth E 2010: Overseas Students; Immigration policy changes 1997- May 2010, Social Policy Section, Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library, pp 34-46.   Review of the Australian Higher Education, accessed on September 26, 2010 at http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Review/Pages/FuturedirectionsforTertiaryEducation.aspx Sydney Morning Herald 2010: Anger and angst as Australia’s best are judged rank outsiders, September 20 2010. Taylor and Francis 2008: School effectiveness and improvement, pub. An international Journal of Research Vol. 21 Read More