Review of the demand driven funding system

In 2012, the Australian Government lifted previously imposed limits on the funding of bachelor-degree students at public universities. This new system was called ‘demand driven’ because it allowed universities to respond to student demand and allowed more students to benefit from higher education. On 12 November 2013 Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne, appointed a review panel to look at and make recommendations in relation to the demand driven funding arrangements. The review panel comprised the Hon Dr David Kemp and Mr Andrew Norton and is known as the Norton-Kemp review. The panel looked at the impacts of the demand driven system and whether it is increasing participation, improving access to students from poorer backgrounds and rural and regional areas, and meeting the skill needs of the economy. It explored whether there were any adverse impacts on quality and considered the long term sustainability of the system. The report found that public universities have responded well to changes under the demand driven system and improved access for all students. It found the new system has allowed universities to be more responsive to student needs, driven innovation and lifted quality. The reviewers made 19 findings and 17 recommendations, including extending the demand driven system to diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degrees, and to private universities and non-university higher education providers such as TAFEs. The reviewers believe that extending the demand driven system will expand opportunities for students, and lead to further innovation in courses and modes of delivery, and in the quality of teaching and graduates

Noncognitive Skills, Internet Use and Educational Dropout

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 2000 to 2006 we analyze the determinants and labor market effects of educational dropout. In addition to classical variables like family background and occupation, we examine noncognitive skills and Internet use. Noncognitive skills and Internet availability at home are negatively associated with the probability of becoming an educational dropout. The wage gap between dropouts and those with completed school and professional education vanishes for males once we control for additional characteristics such as occupations, professional Internet use and noncognitive skills. For females it is reduced to four percent

Department Of Labor Testing: Seizing an Opportunity to Increase the Competitiveness of American Industry and to Raise the Earnings of American Workers

[Excerpt] The professionalism that the American military recently exhibited in the Persian Gulf is in no small part due to care with which it selects, assigns and trains its soldiers. The military\u27s success in preparing this highly skilled workforce was made possible by decades of research into occupational competency assessment, aptitude test development and validity research. The Department of Labor is also a world leader in the development and validation of employment aptitude tests and there is now an opportunity for this expertise to be implemented in ways that can enhance the nations\u27s competitiveness and improve the standard of living of all of its workers. This paper describes how an Employment Service job referral system can be developed and implemented to achieve these objectives. It is organized into 6 sections

The Economic Consequences of Schooling and Learning

[Excerpt] Concern about slackening productivity growth and deteriorating competitiveness has resulted in a new public focus on the quality and rigor of the elementary and secondary education received by the nation\u27s front line workers. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, for example, reports that 93 percent of 17 year olds do not have the capacity to apply mathematical operations in a variety of problem settings. (1988 p. 42) Higher order thinking and problem solving skills are believed to be in particularly short supply so much attention has been given to mathematics and science education because it is thought that these subjects are particularly relevant to their development

The Economics of Employment Testing

Greater use of employment tests for selecting workers will have important effects on the economy. First, the rewards for developing the competencies measured by the tests will rise and this will increase the supply of workers with these competencies. Employment tests predict job performance because they measure or are correlated with a large set of developed abilities which are causally related to productivity and not because they are correlated with an inherited ability to learn. Our economy currently under-rewards the achievements that are measured by these tests and the resulting weak incentives for hard study have contributed to the low levels of achievement in math and science. Greater use of tests to select workers will also change the sorting of workers across jobs. Its impacts on total output depends on the extent to which the developed abilities measured by employment tests--academic achievement, perceptual speed and psychomotor skills--have larger impacts on worker productivity in dollars in some occupations than in others. This question is examined by analyzing GATB revalidation data on 31,399 workers in 159 occupations and by reviewing the literature on how the standard deviation of worker productivity varies across occupations. The analysis finds that indeed such differentials exist and therefore that reassigning workers who do well on a test to occupations where the payoff to the talent is particularly high will increase aggregate output. The magnitude of the output effect was estimated by reweighting the GATB revalidation data to be representative of the 71 million workers in the non-professional and nonmanagerial occupations and then simulating various resorting scenarios. Selecting new hires randomly lowered aggregate output by at least $129 billion or 8 percent of the compensation received by these workers. An upper bound estimate of the productivity benefits of reassigning workers on the basis of three GATB composites is that it would raise output by$111 billion or 6.9 percent of compensation. Reassignment based on tests had an adverse impact on Blacks and Hispanics but greatly reduced gender segregation in the work place and substantially improved the average wage of the jobs held by women. These results are based on a maintained assumption--the models of job performance which were estimated in samples of job incumbents are after corrections for measurement error and selection on the dependent variable yield unbiased estimates of true population relationships--that is almost certainly wrong. The biases introduced into the calculation by this assumption lower the estimated costs of introducing random assignment of workers to jobs, exaggerate the benefits of greater test use and exaggerate the changes in demographic composition of occupational work forces. The paper concludes with a discussion of ways in which employment tests can simultaneously strengthen incentives to learn, improve sorting and minimize adverse impacts on minority groups

Kecenderungan kerjaya sebagai usahawan di kalangan pelajar bumiputera di Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan, Pahang

Usahawan memainkan peranan penting dalam pembangunan ekonomi sesebuah negara. Walau bagaimanapun, jika dilihat senario sekarang, masih ramai Bumiputera yang kurang berminat untuk menceburi bidang keusahawanan. Justeru itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk menyelidik tentang tahap kecenderungan keijaya sebagai usahawan di kaiangan pelajar Bumiputera tahun akhir Diploma Akauntansi Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan (POLISAS). Secara khususnya, kajian ini akan menyelidik sejauh mana cita-cita pelajar Bumiputera untuk menjadi seorang usahawan dipengaruhi oleh ciri-ciri peribadi pelajar, faktor keluarga, faktor pengajian, pengalaman keija dan faktor persekitaran. Responden kajian terdiri daripada pelajar Bumiputera POLISAS iaitu seramai 51 orang. Data dikumpul menggunakan soal selidik dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan prosedur Ujian T, Crosstabs dan Korelasi Pearson melalui perisian SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Sciences). Dapatan kajian menunjukkan hanya faktor persekitaran (iaitu faktor pihak yang paling mempengaruhi pelajar untuk berniaga) yang dapat menarik minat pelajar untuk melibatkan diri dalam perniagaan. Faktor-faktor lain didapati kurang memberikan sumbangan dalam menarik minat pelajar untuk cenderung kepada bidang keusahawanan. Oleh itu, beberapa cadangan telah dibuat bagi menangani masalah ini agar kaum Bumiputera tidak jauh ketinggalan berbanding kaum lain dan seterusnya memenuhi hasrat kerajaan dalam merealisasikan matlamat Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) yang masih belum dicapai sepenuhnya hingga ke hari ini

The expansion and contraction of the apprenticeship system in Australia, 1985-2020

This paper chronicles and analyses the expansion and contraction of the Australian apprenticeship system from 1985 to 2020. The system expanded from a small number of occupations, mainly in craft and manufacturing areas, to include many other occupations, notably in the different types of service sectors. The expansion was achieved primarily through a new type of apprenticeship, known as a traineeship, to augment the existing more traditional apprenticeships. Since 2012, the system has contracted considerably, and the participation rate of women has been affected disproportionately. The period of expansion of the system was book-ended by two major government-instigated documents, in 1985 and 2011. In 1985 a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs proposed the introduction of traineeships, and in 2011 an Expert Panel on Apprenticeships sought to reduce numbers through the application of specific criteria for government support, which primarily affected the occupations served by traineeships. Two sources of evidence are used to examine the expansion and contraction of the apprenticeship system: data from the national apprenticeship statistics collection maintained by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and key government reports over the 35 years. A brief overview of COVID-19-related developments in 2020 is included. © 2021 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd

Proficiency-based High School Diploma Systems in Maine: Implications for College and Career Access

In the 127th Legislative Session, An Act to Implement Certain Recommendations of the Maine Proficiency Education Council (S.P. 660 - L.D. 1627) was passed into law as Chapter 489 amending the chaptered law An Act to Prepare Maine People for the Future Economy (S.P.439 - L.D.1422) passed in 2012 requiring Maine school districts to implement proficiency-based diploma requirements and standards-based education systems. The Maine Legislature\u27s Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs has requested for the past five years that the Maine Education Policy Research Institute\u27s (MEPRI) annual work plan include studies designed to compile data, examine progress and explore impacts regarding implementation of this state policy within local institutions and school districts across the state. In 2016-2017, Phase V of this study shifted from the general perceptions and practices of schools and districts implementing proficiency-based high school diploma systems (as explored in Phases I-IV) to the examination of the policy implications within key programs, contexts and populations. This report shares research conducted to examine the alignment of proficiency-based diploma systems with college eligibility and admissions requirements as well as identify postsecondary career entry requirements and attributes of high quality workers. Findings suggest that most college admissions, scholarship selection and athletic eligibility processes still heavily rely on traditional components, such as grade point average, standardized test scores, course selection and grades. Admissions officers indicated that a precise, informative school profile and clear transcript with student information that could be compared to other applicants was important. Representatives from Maine businesses and professional organizations described high quality entry-level job applicants as dependable and positive with a strong work ethic as well as being adaptable to changing markets or leaders. Employers said that they expected high school graduates to demonstrate a common level of basic literacy in reading, writing, mathematics and technology. Many participants from Maine businesses emphasized that their organizations needed employees who understood local as well as global economic systems and demonstrated collaboration in a team-oriented environment in addition to solid communication skills. Four appendixes are included: (1) College Access (Part I) Interview Protocol; (2) Post-Secondary Institution Admissions Criteria; (3) Career Access (Part II) Interview Protocol; and (4) Maine Employment Data

Proficiency-based High School Diploma systems in Maine: Implications for College and Career Access

This report shares research conducted to examine the alignment of proficiency-based diploma systems with college eligibility and admissions requirements as well as identify post-secondary career entry requirements and attributes of high quality workers. Findings suggest that most college admissions, scholarship selection and athletic eligibility processes still heavily rely on traditional components, such as grade point average, standardized test scores, course selection and grades. Admissions officers indicated that a precise, informative school profile and clear transcript with student information that could be compared to other applicants was important. Although participants in this study said they had not received many proficiency-based high school transcripts yet, they communicated that it would be critical to explain changes and felt proposed changes have the potential to be a less reductive way of evaluating students