Student movement: Pathways, fields and links to work

Abstract

There is a lack of coherence between education, training and work in Australia indicated by low proportions of VET graduates who work in occupations related to their qualification and mismatches between qualifications, skills and work. This paper discusses how student flows through tertiary education can further illustrate this lack of coherence. Changing levels of qualifications in the workforce and the extent of student movement within and between VET and higher education, and within and between fields of education, are examined. The findings for several fields are related to labour market changes in relevant occupations. It is argued that links within tertiary education are generally quite weak and have not improved in recent years, although this varies markedly by field. It is further argued that the long-standing policy focus on improving tertiary pathways has not proved adequate and that better ways to link education, training and work need to be found.

Keywords:

• VET
• higher education
• student transfers
• pathways
• work
• coherence