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Skills and NQF news from SA and Australia

The Director General of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), Mary Metcalfe recently told Engineering News that there has been a definite increase in artisan output over the past four years and that progress has also been made in addressing the legacy of artisan dearth.

Ms Metcalfe has also acknowledged that the challenges associated with the need for an intergenerational transfer of knowledge and skills persist, while young artisans also find it difficult to secure opportunities for practical workplace experience.

The country, notes Engineering News,  therefore needs experienced artisans, including those in retirement, to assist in the processes around artisan training, including assisting at the college level and in establishing an artisan moderating body.

Input and experience of creative engineers is required to lead the development of technicians and artisans that are able to interface with the new technologies that have emerged as a result of the world's transition to a more knowledge-based economic order.

"If we can improve the inefficiencies in trade testing, get the appropriate support of the relevant Setas, streamline the multiple pathways, and retain skills development as a national priority, we will overcome this skills challenge," said Ms Metcalfe.

The development of the DHET (created in 2009, when the former Department of Education was divided into the DHET and Basic Education, with the DHET also taking over the skills-development functions from the Department of Labour) has emerged as the principle custodian of the artisan training push.

Through the merger, the DHET has responsibility for colleges and the universities as well as the training functions and institutions that fell previously under Labour, such as the National Skills Authority, the Setas and the National Qualifications Framework.

It has also been asked to integrate The Presidency's Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa (HRD-SA), previously the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition, or Jipsa, which is chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

In theory, therefore, the DHET offers the country new possibilities in education and training by improving the linkages between education and training policy and the professional bodies, associations, business and higher education institutions that act as implementation agents.

Meanwhile the The Australian reports that Australian Qualifications Framework Council (AQFC) has given a draft issuance policy that proposes to restrict the use of internationally recognised degree titles, limiting postgraduate degree titles to Master of (field of study) and MPhil, and Doctor of (field of study) and PhD.

All other titles, including many that are longstanding and government-funded, are no longer to be allowed, and Australian universities may be forbidden from offering new degrees in future. This has significant implications for several degrees with internationally recognised titles including the Juris Doctor, and Doctors of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Optometry, Dental Surgery and Physiotherapy. Curiously, it also means the end of degree titles such as LittD, DPhil, DSc, LLM.

Mr Michael Gallagher the Executive Director of  The Group of Eight (Go8) – a  coalition of eight Austratlian universities – noted in The Australian that the Go8 supports "modernisation" of the AQF to clarify the learning outcomes expected for qualifications at different levels.

The AQF, he notes, is an important reference but it has never been, nor should it become, a prescriptive regulatory tool. The role of the AQF is to describe not control what Australian universities offer. The AQF levels provide a basis for comparability of qualifications, however titled. Regrettably, the AQFC confuses comparability with consistency or uniformity.

It is not self-evident that Australia should align itself entirely with the highly-regulated approach of the Europeans. The Australian higher education sector, post-Dawkins, resembles the US model of diversity within universities rather than the European model of diversity through different institutional types.

The US model has currency in most parts of Asia as well as Latin America, the high growth regions. Even so, the European approach is about comparability of qualifications structures via reference to the learning outcomes outlined for the 8 levels of the European Qualifications Framework. It does not mandate common degree titles everywhere, nor ban local variations. Why should the AQFC?

If the AQF is to describe accurately Australian qualifications currently offered and provide the flexibility necessary to accommodate new offerings in response to student interests and global competition, then it should allow the title of Master at Levels 8 and 9 and the title of Doctor at levels 9 and 10. To do otherwise is to deny the obvious, reduce student learning options and stifle the competitiveness of Australian universities.

The AQFC argues the title Doctor is used universally for doctoral-level degrees, the status and recognition of which would be diminished by its use for other qualifications. It also argues that allowing "confusing titling" would mean Australia's practices would be incompatible with the Framework of Qualifications.

But Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Juris Doctor (JD) titles are recognised for Masters level professional entry degrees in many parts of the world, particularly the US. The global recognition of these courses is important to their capacity to attract talented students and build international exchange relationships that enrich program quality.

Internationally recognised qualifications support mobility and employability abroad for students.

The Australian Higher Education Graduate Statement, university promotional materials and handbooks are the proper places to show how different titles align with AQF levels. The Europeans use their diploma supplement for this purpose.

There is no evidence internationally that JDs or MDs have reduced the status of the PhD.

The AQFC is neither the owner nor the custodian of the qualifications. Australian universities accredit their own awards. Currently the AQFC has no formal approval power, although it is not clear what role the AQF will play in respect of TEQSA. However, the restrictions it is seeking to impose on titles could be damaging if incorporated into the new regulatory framework.
The Group of Eight (Go8) is a coalition of the following Australian universities: The University of Western Australia, The University of New South Wales, Monash University, The University of Queensland, The University of Melbourne, The University of Adelaide, The University of Sydney, and The Australian National University.

• Compiled by Tumelo Modisane

Sources
1)Engineering News http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/artisan-accelerator-south-africas-artisan-shortage-cloud-may-have-a-training-silver-lining-2010-07-23
2) The Australian - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/aqfc-to-limit-postgrad-titles/story-e6frgcjx-1225897694563