‘College for all’ in Anglophone countries – meritocracy or social inequality? An Australian example

Abstract

This article analyses the expansion of higher education offered by technical and further education institutes in Australia and it compares this provision with the expansion of higher education in further education colleges in England, and baccalaureate degrees in community colleges in the United States. It argues that this provision can open new opportunities for students, while at the same time contributing to social inequality because not all types of higher education are equal. It uses Trow’s typology of elite, mass and universal higher education to analyse this expansion, and it uses social realism to discuss whether ‘applied’ higher education provides students with similar opportunities to students in more elite institutions. It draws from two related research projects in Australia that researched the growth of higher education in institutions outside universities to explore these issues.

Keywords:

• college for all
• vocational and higher education
• social inclusion
• meritocracy
• social realism

Acknowledgements

Funding for both research projects reported in this article was through the National Centre for Vocational Education Research in Australia.

Notes

1. See the Community College Baccalaureate Association website: http://www.accbd.org/resources/baccalaureate-conferring-locations/?ct=US, accessed 20 January 2015. The CCBA website lists 16 states that have authorised their colleges to offer degrees, while approval has been given to community colleges in California to offer baccalaureate degrees for a seven-year pilot programme – see http://www.kcra.com/news/community-college-picks-schools-to-offer-4 year-degrees/30821610, accessed 20 January 2015.

2. See Polytechnics Canada’s list: http://www.polytechnicscanada.ca/sites/default/files/AllCollege_Degrees_09242014.pdf, accessed 20 January 2015.

3. For the latest list of degrees offered by polytechnics and institutes in New Zealand, see http://www.studyzone.co.nz/polytechnics/, accessed 20 January 2015.

4. TAFE Directors Australia explains that 10 of the nations 58 TAFEs are registered to offer higher education qualifications in their own right, while about 23 deliver higher education qualifications either in their own right or in partnership with universities. See: http://www.tda.edu.au/cb_pages/australian_tafe_higher_education_provider_network.php and: http://www.tda.edu.au/cb_pages/files/24092014%20TDA%20response%20to%20the%20HE%20and%20research%20reform%20amendment%20bill%202014.pdf, accessed 21 January 2015.

5. One exception is the state of New South Wales where the TAFE system has decided to maintain and build on the ‘TAFE brand’.

6. Further education colleges can now apply for authority to accredit their own foundation degrees. See the Quality Assurance Agency of England (2014) that outlines how higher education qualifications are accredited.

7. They are Central Queensland University in Queensland; Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory; and, Victoria University, Federation University, Swinburne University and RMIT University in Victoria.