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Improvements in lifelong learning are necessary for a range of overlapping reasons, including changing needs of the labour force in a globalised economy, the aging of the population in high-income countries and inequalities in education, work and income. Increased lifelong learning, for all, is important for productivity, but also to support social cohesion which in the longer term may underpin productivity. The paper draws on recent international discussions to consider: (1) Existing unmet needs and emerging needs for education and training; (2) Funds required compared with what is provided; and (3) How the additional funds can be found (freeing funds through efficiencies or reallocation in the provision of education and training and new forms and places of learning; stimulating employers to enhance learning in the workplace and the provision of education and training through increasing the benefits and reducing the costs or mandating employer provision of education and training; stimulating increased individual expenditure by improving access to funds and by increasing the benefits and reducing the costs; and increasing government spending). The need for additional funding varies among rich countries and between rich and poor countries. The possibilities for implementing various forms of funding also vary with the prevailing political and economic structures. The paper highlights some of the issues with reference to the experience of Australia, a rich country with low public expenditure. (Contains 2 boxes and 6 tables.)

The United States is in need of new strategies to address the historic inequity of access to its colleges and universities. Australia, with its system of deferred tuition and income-contingent repayment, can serve as a source of insight and guidance in addressing this problem and function as an interesting and helpful comparative case. In this study, a review of research on the efficacy of Australia's Higher Education Contribution Scheme is combined with an analysis of interviews conducted with 17 stakeholders from within and outside the Australian university system in which participants shared their views on the extent to which beliefs and values regarding the private and public benefits of higher education influence policy development and legislation and the merits of various alternative university finance and government models. Consideration is given to the applicability of the Australian model as a means of improving higher education access in the United States. (Contains 47 references.) (Author/SLD)

We assess the relationship between general literacy skills and health status by analysing data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), an international survey of about 250,000 adults aged 16-65 years conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2011-15 in 33 countries/national sub-regions. Across countries, there seems to be a strong and consistent association between general literacy proficiency and self-rated poor health, independent of prior socio-economic status and income. General literacy proficiency also appears to be a mediator of the association between self-education and self-rated poor health. While the literacy-health association is robust over time, it varies in magnitude across countries. It is strongest for those with a tertiary or higher degree and does not appear to exist among young adults (ages 25 to 34 years). Future studies are required to understand the contextual factors that modify the general literacy proficiency-health association.

At the 18th meeting of Ministerial Council on Education (MCEETYA) (12th-13th May 2005), Council urged the Australian Government to: (1) increase per capita assistance to ESL-NA students with high educational needs, in particular, refugees and humanitarian entrants; (2) provide a new per capita allocation so that specific ethnic and cultural issues faced by those children and families entering into Australia under the refugee and humanitarian category can be addressed; and (3) expand the visa classifications eligible for new arrivals funding. Ministers Nelson and Hardgrave noted the points raised but indicated that a more evidence-based discussion of the issue was warranted to justify any Australian Government increase in funding. The MCEETYA Schools Resourcing Taskforce (SRT) convened a working party of Australian Government, Victorian Government and Catholic Education Commission representatives to work with the SRT secretariat to investigate this issue. A survey of the government state and territory education systems and Catholic education systems across Australia was conducted in March 2006. The survey was structured to collect data about the different modes of delivery of ESL tuition provided by an education system for its newly arrived students. Financial and non-financial data were collected in the survey. All states and territories participated except the Northern Territory. The Catholic Education Commission (CEC) provided data on two dioceses with substantial ESL-NA students. This report includes: (1) an overview of the existing policy settings for providing ESL tuition to newly arrived students, and of recent permanent and temporary immigration trends; (2) a national mapping of the services and different modes of delivery of ESL tuition provided by a system for its newly arrived students; and (3) an analysis of the current per capita costs of providing ESL tuition to newly arrived students and information on the adequacy of current provision for both groups of newly arrived students based on survey data. The Australian Government has expressed reservations about the methodology and conclusions drawn in this Discussion Paper. While these reservations remain, the critical importance of English language skills in improving workforce participation, productivity and aggregate economic outcomes for Australia, and to the well-being of individuals, is readily acknowledged. The Australian Government recognises the need to build on such common ground with further work to ensure areas of significant and specific ESL need are addressed. Appended are: (1) Visa Sub-Classes Eligible to Receive Commonwealth ESL-NA Program Funding; (2) Visa Sub-Classes Ineligible to Receive Commonwealth ESL-NA Program Funding; (3) SA Typical and Agreed Patterns of Entry and Exit Scales: DECS--ESL Scales; and (4) Survey Instrument. (Contains 19 tables, 9 figures and 63 footnotes.)

Apprentice and trainee data are reported by the State and Territory Training Authorities to NCVER (National Centre for Vocational Education Research) on a quarterly basis, starting at the September quarter of 1994. The set of data submitted that quarter is referred to as the National Apprentice and Trainee Collection 1. The sets of data submitted in subsequent quarters are referred to as Collection 2, Collection 3 and so on. At the time of writing, the set of data being submitted is for the March 2010 quarter and is referred to as Collection 63. The data consists of information about the contracts of training entered into by apprentices and employers. The remainder of this document details the method adopted by NCVER to calculate the proportions of attrition and completions that was first used in the 2009 Apprentice and Trainee Annual publication. The next section describes the method in overview and the following section describes the method in detail. (Contains 4 tables.) [For the accompanying report, "Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics: Apprentices and Trainees. Annual, 2009", see ED510873.]

Rubrics are a tool that can be used to provide graded assessment for articulation from vocational education and training (VET) into higher education. By mentoring teachers to use rubrics and interviewing them to determine their experiences in using them, the author explored the potential of rubrics as an assessment tool. Overall, teachers found rubrics not only useful for grading assessments but also for conveying assessment expectations to students. The research was undertaken by a novice researcher in the community of practice program and was funded as part of NCVER's (National Centre for Vocational Education Research) Building Researcher Capacity initiative. (Contains 3 tables.)

In mid-2010 NCVER undertook a review of its building researcher capacity initiative in order to inform its direction into the future. The review found that the initiative had achieved a high profile among vocational education and training (VET) practitioners. The scholarship programs had heightened awareness about the role research can play in fostering good practice and a culture of evaluation. The review found, however, that more work needs to be done to find the best ways to encourage new VET researchers within universities. Program findings are appended. (Contains 2 tables and 3 footnotes.)

The aim of this report is to examine the potential use of information from the Student Outcomes Survey, including the use of student course satisfaction information and post-study outcomes, as a means of determining markers of training quality. In an analysis of the student course satisfaction measures, the authors found there are very small variations in reported average student satisfaction across providers, with and without controls for factors that differ among providers unrelated to training quality, such as differences in student intake. There are several possible reasons for this, including the sample used for the survey not being representative of all VET (vocational education and training) participants. The authors argue that outcome measures from the Student Outcomes Survey, such as further study and labour market outcomes, are more meaningful for students making choices on courses and providers, given that such outcomes are the main motivations for study. Further, differences in labour market outcomes also signal how valuable the skills acquired are to employers. All else being equal, the more favourable the graduate employment outcomes relative to competitors, the better a provider is in meeting the needs of students. The authors recommend the collation of outcome measures from the Student Outcomes Survey, along with other relevant course and provider information, to be made available as part of a "scoreboard" of information on courses, similar to the "Good universities guide" for prospective higher education students. Such a depository of information makes it easy for students to compare and contrast courses and providers. However, they recognise that using outcomes for comparison has its drawbacks. In particular, differences in the outcomes across providers may not only reflect differences in quality, but also differences in the regions and in student clientele, which may create perverse incentives for providers to bias their student intake, shift their location, or pressure poor students to exit prematurely. For this reason the authors suggest that raw outcome measures are validated against measures that control for differences in student characteristics and student opportunities across providers, such as output from regression models. To ensure that data from the Student Outcomes Survey are better used, including as part of a "scoreboard" of information, the authors recommend a number of changes to the survey, listed in order, from what they consider to be easiest to hardest: (1) publish individual provider information; (2) collect more information on students and their labour market outcomes; (3) increase the sample size and survey response rates; (4) expand the survey to include information on private fee-for-service courses and all adult and community education (ACE) courses; and (5) add a panel dimension to the survey. Appendices include: (1) Statements on the three aspects of course, Student Outcomes Survey 2005-08; and (2) Scorecard for Justice Institute of British Columbia (from BCStats, 2008). (Contains 9 tables, 1 figure and 12 footnotes.)

The implementation of an educational reform and the subsequent reconfiguration of curricula in a competency format prompted research into the learning experiences of students within a newly reconfigured competency-based curriculum. The curriculum was the technical and further education (TAFE) New South Wales (NSW) Tertiary Preparation Certificate III, first implemented in 1983 as a transition course to further education for adults. Adoption of the particular research perspective for the practitioner researcher in this case was dependent on factors that included nature and purpose of the research; experiences of the researcher within their practice; practitioner's conceptualization of being in the world; and pragmatic considerations, such as time and access. Consideration of these factors led the practitioner researcher to adopt an eclectic Symbolic Interactionist theoretical framework along with its methodology of participant observation. A model of practitioner research was proposed as a way of conceptualizing the conflicting yet complementary roles of teacher and researcher. Key characteristics of the three roles of teacher, course coordinator, and researcher were established, and a graphic representation was developed of these characteristics and the types of interaction and skills involved in each. (Contains 31 references.) (YLB)

The socioeconomic contributions of adult learning to community were examined from a social capital perspective. The concepts of human capital and social capital were differentiated, and the relationship between learning, human capital, and social capital was explored. The relevance of social capital in describing the wider benefits of adult learning was illustrated through the examples of a study of the impact of the adult and community education (ACE) sector on communities and society in Victoria, Australia, and a study of a group of African women refugees located in a suburb of a large Australian capital city. The studies documented wider benefits of ACE in the following areas: health; education and learning; employment and quality of working life; time and leisure; command over goods and services; physical environment; social environment; and personal safety. Social capital building was shown to be implicated in effective adult learning in the following ways: (1) social capital is involved in program design, management, and delivery whether it is explicitly recognized as such or not; (2) the processes of drawing on and building social capital are part and parcel of the learning process; and (3) social capital can be a direct or indirect benefit of learning. (Contains 27 references.) (MN)

The question of the extent to which effective leadership in vocational education and training (VET) depends on the specific context in which it occurs was examined. Data were collected from the following sources: an intensive literature analysis; studies of purposive sample of 12 diverse VET sites across Australia; and individual interviews with 48 individuals and group interviews with approximately 60 individuals at the 12 sites. The data from the sites were assembled and subjected to preliminary analysis. Selected emerging results were reported. The following attributes were deemed important leadership characteristics: (1) envisages future trends and their impacts on current strategies; (2) demonstrates interpersonal skills by talking and listening to others and establishing rapport; and (3) works to understand the personalities, motivations, and other diverse qualities of people. The following different "takes" on effective VET leadership were identified: (1) leadership is initiated and carried by a single "leader" or manager; (2) leadership is encouragement of each employee; (3) leaders must see the big picture and translate it into each staff member's own contribution so they perform at their best; (4) people are essentially born leaders; and (5) leadership is about enabling people to develop and grow within an environment of increasing complexity and change. (Contains 33 references.) (MN)

This paper reports on a Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) project that explored policies, programs and other initiatives by Australia's states and territories to support innovation, and to build vocational education and training (VET) capability to respond to its effects on skill needs. The project was undertaken in late 2003-early 2004. CEET set out to document the range of initiatives adopted by the states and territories, their rationales and objectives, funding and major features; to highlight similarities and differences between the approaches and the various emphases being given to different aspects of VET, to types of skills and innovation and to VET-industry relationships; and to highlight best practice approaches. The author found that the states and territories are working to support innovation in industry and enterprises and to build VET capabilities to respond to it, but more could be done and some activities could be more effective. Findings include: (1) More co-operative and collaborative work is needed to reduce the current level of duplication in the provision of web-based support; (2) VET is poorly represented on innovation advisory bodies to governments; (3) Further opportunities could also be given for VET personnel to contribute to research and development, particularly in industry sectors in which they have a high level of expertise; and (4) There is considerable potential for states to learn from each other. (Contains 8 footnotes.)

As part of a charge to assist the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) to co-ordinate the development of relevant User Choice resourcing arrangements, CEET documented existing User Choice resourcing arrangements in each jurisdiction as of March 31, 2004. Emails were sent to each jurisdiction asking them to provide information on the User Choice resourcing arrangements which were currently in operation, referring particularly to how priorities were determined, rather than to the dollar amounts provided. Information was also sought on any related matters which had a significant impact on the User Choice resourcing arrangements; and on any changes which were being implemented or proposed. Each State and Territory responded, some more extensively than others, and it was frequently suggested that further information be derived from the relevant authority website. Input from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), and other employer organisations was also solicited. The report outlines existing priority determination processes and outcomes, organised by reference to each State and Territory, followed by the situation at national level, and by the situation as viewed from the perspective of employer and employee organisations. Two attachments are included: (1) Statement of User Choice Policy (MINCO; November 2003); and (2) ANTA Agreement for 2001 to 2004. (Contains 1 footnote.) [For companion report, "Analysis of User Choice Resourcing Arrangements in Australia in March 2004. Working Paper No. 58," see ED505818.]

The development of a uniquely Australian system of innovation and its relation to the vocational education and training (VET) system is considered in this discussion paper. It asserts that the Australian system of innovation fits the pattern of incremental innovation and diffusion of technical knowledge. It focuses on arrangements prior to the formation of the technical and further education system in the late 1970s. It concludes that the diffusion of knowledge and the development of a workforce capable of developing innovative local technical solutions has long been the domain of VET institutions in Australia. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.) [This report was published with funding provided through the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. The author/project team was funded to undertake this research via a grant under the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation (NVETRE) Program.]

There is growing evidence that students throughout the world no longer see the US as the primary place to study; that in some form this correlates with a rise in perceived quality and prestige in the EU and elsewhere; and further, that this may mean a continued decline in the US's market share of international students. There clearly are a complex set of variables that will influence international education and global labor markets, including the current global economic recession. Ultimately, however, we think these factors will not alter the fundamental dynamics of the new global market, which include these facts: the international flow of talent, scientific or otherwise, is being fundamentally altered as nations invest more in educational attainment and human capital; the US will continue to lose some of its market share over time--the only question is how quickly and by how much; and without a proactive strategy, nations such as the US that are highly dependent on global in-migration of talented students and professionals are most vulnerable to downward access to global talent, with a potentially significant impact on future economic growth. This study provides data on past and recent global trends in international enrollment, and offers a set of policy recommendations for the US at the federal, state, and institutional level. This includes our recommendation of a national goal to double the number of international students in the US over the next decade to match numbers in a group of competitor nations, and requires recognition that the US will need to strategically expand its enrollment capacity and graduation rates to accommodate needed increases in the educational attainment rate of US citizens, and to welcome more international students. Attracting talent in a global market and increasing degree attainment rates of the domestic population are not mutually exclusive goals. Indeed, they will be the hallmarks of the most competitive economies. (Contains 6 figures and 41 endnotes.)

This paper clarifies the problems of meaning and translation into practice of concepts of "quality" in higher education by examining a quality improvement program at Griffith University (Queensland, Australia). The paper notes that Australian government agencies have advanced a quality assurance (QA) approach concerned with the imposition of externally defined versions of what universities stand for and of their contribution to the economic enhancement of the states, an approach which may not be in the best long term interests of the groups inside or outside the universities. The paper describes an alternative approach, the quality improvement (QI) model which emphasizes individual and corporate development and which satisfies the needs of various internal stakeholders and takes into account the external pressures of accountability inherent in QA. A description of the QI project at Griffith University shows how it is trying to bridge the gap between external accountability and internal transformation. By working within specific sites inside the University, the project aims at the internationalization of a culture that values quality in all of its variant forms and the development of a quality driven institutional culture across the University. Contains 12 references. (JB)

This report provides the technical details on the modelling aspects of identifying significant drivers for the reasons for using certain types of training and for the choice of training types. The employed data is from the 2005 Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET system (SEUV). The data has previously been analysed in NCVER (2006). This report focuses on two broad research questions. First, what are the drivers of the reasons (or what explains the reasons) employers cite for using particular training types. Second, what explains the observed choice employers make in choosing between nationally recognised training and unaccredited training. These two research questions are analysed in turn in sections three and four. (Contains 11 tables.) [Funding for this document was provided through the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. This document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report "Reasons for training: Why Australian employers train their workers," and is an added resource for further information. For the main report, see ED507236.]

This report examines the costs that both employers and apprentices incur for undertaking training in the plumbing and electrical industries. The importance of understanding costs is fundamental. Employers will not take on apprentices if the cost is too high, and prospective apprentices will not undertake an apprenticeship if the future benefits (increased wages) do not outweigh the immediate costs to them. The research found that the apprenticeship model involves a substantial financial commitment from employers, and apprenticeships are more attractive to young people and will remain unattractive to older people, unless the premium paid to qualified tradespeople is substantial. Appendices include: (1) Details of case studies; and (2) Data collection sheets. (Contains 19 tables, 6 figures, and 5 footnotes.)

An analysis of student verbatim responses in the Student Outcomes Survey provides suggestions for how the vocational education and training (VET) system could be improved. Eight major domains are discussed: course relevance and design; staff attributes and behaviours; teaching and learning practices; access to courses; facilities and services; assessment practices; learning resources; equipment and materials; initial information provision; and administration and learning support services. Aspects of training questions are appended. (Contains 11 tables and 6 footnotes.) [For Support Document, see ED507620.]

The research implications of the concepts of working knowledge and work-based learning were examined. A research agenda for work-based learning arising from the analysis of "working knowledge" was presented. The agenda listed questions pertaining to the following areas: (1) the conditions bringing about work-based learning; (2) the nature of working knowledge; (3) knowledge formation and learning at work; (4) academic institutions and their knowledge codes; (5) contemporary knowledge formation; and (6) working identity. The impact of the "embeddedness" of learning in the workplace on attempts to research how knowledge is produced in workplaces was discussed, focusing on the following items: (1) what employees deem to be learning practices and how they understand these practices by their various conceptions of learning; (2) the work relationships and social learning that occur among employees and their influence on formation and modification of worksites' learning practices; and (3) the organizational culture that provides a context for learning. The following factors conditioning a learning culture were explored in an analysis of the problem of researching how an organizational "learning culture" is produced in enterprises: environments pressing the organization to change; organizational systems promoting learning; and practices securing employee commitment. (Contains 18 references.) (MN)

The experiences of early school leavers in a New South Wales Central Coast community during the year after they left school were examined to identify ways of easing their transition into the community and the work force. Data were collected through interviews with community service providers, representatives of educational agencies, refuge workers, and local employers. Few schools had a system for providing early school leavers with information about their options. Unlike in Europe, the responsibility of schools to early leavers in the North Coast appeared to be minimal and did not embrace the idea that early school leavers should be followed up via some well-established community-based arrangements. Because many early leavers left school too suddenly for the school to intervene or left "under a cloud," they were unlikely to receive sympathetic farewells and relevant information, even though they are the students most in need of information and support. It was concluded that the reason early school leavers pose such a problem for policy is because Australia's vocational education and training system remains based on the historical dominance of the apprenticeship system. Greater integration of education and training arrangements with the local community and its employer networks and support services was recommended. (Contains 32 references.) (MN)

The question of whether apprenticeships and traineeships can survive in Australia's emerging social and economic environment was explored through a review of two bodies of research. The first consisted of recent reviews of the quality of traineeships in Queensland and Tasmania and apprenticeships in Victoria. The second was a study on the future of work that was being conducted by the Research Centre for Vocational Education and Training and Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training. The recent success of Australia's New Apprenticeship system was considered in the context of the structure, content, and skill requirements of the jobs currently being created. The following problems were identified as affecting the long-term survival of apprenticeships and traineeships: increasing detachment from a centralized industrial relations system and industrial awards; increasing reliance on skill opportunities provided by the content and structure of work in individual enterprises rather than within an industry; high levels of employer influence and declining levels of employer investment in training; increasing dependence on a regime of public subsidy and training regulation; uncertainty about how to deal the competing trends of on-skilling and de-skilling; and reluctance to admit that not all workplaces are or even aspire to be learning organizations. (Contains 12 references.) (MN)

This discussion paper provides a rationale for the development of professional teaching standards in Australia. It is the result of a 2000 national forum on professional teaching standards held in Melbourne, Australia, which included 150 educators who explored contemporary issues associated with such standards and constructed a framework for collaborative and strategic action. The paper is designed to stimulate discussion about the need to identify and deploy standards of professional practice for accomplished school teachers. Nine sections examine: (1) "Purpose of This Discussion Paper"; (2) "The Broader Professional Teaching Standards Agendas"; (3) "Some Threshold Questions and Issues"; (4) "What Constitutes a 'Profession' and What Does it Mean To Be a 'Professional'?"; (5)"Why Does the Teaching Profession Need Standards of Accomplished Professional Practice?"; (6) "Who Would Benefit From the Identification and Use of Standards of Accomplished Professional Practice?"; (7) "How Have Some Other Countries Addressed the Issue of Professional Teaching Standards?" (8) "Upon What Premises and Principles Ought the Identification and Use of Standards of Professional Practice for Accomplished Teaching in Australian Classrooms Be Based?"; and (9) "What Should the Accomplished Australian Classroom Teacher Know, Understand, Do, and Value?" (Contains 33 references.) (SM)

An approach is needed that recognizes a "system" of pathways results from an interaction between Australian pathway designs and reforms of policymakers on the one hand, and the decisions by young people and their families on the other. (Pathways are combinations of education, training, and employment activities that can be taken to acquire a certificate of type of employment.) Data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth for about 2,200 year 10 students from the late 1980s for 7 years identify hundreds of different patterns of activity in the transition from school. For the group that did not obtain tertiary qualifications, these eight pathways have been defined: (1) those who obtained a full-time job on leaving school and remained in full-time work; (2) those who gained an apprenticeship or traineeship followed by full-time work; (3) school leavers who participated in full-time further study before entering full-time employment; (4) youth who experienced a brief or extended period of unemployment, part-time work, or not in the labor force, but were in full-time work for the remainder of the time; (5) those who did the same for an extended period; (6) those who worked mainly part-time; (7) those who were unemployed for the majority of the time; and (8) those mainly not in the labor force. Other pathways were identified for those with tertiary qualifications. (YLB)

A study investigated the critical reasoning skills of a group of 111 Australian adult tertiary students who were practicing adult vocational and further education teachers and trainers, using the recently developed Critical Reasoning Test (CRT). It examined some variables that might be expected to affect critical reasoning scores. These tertiary teachers' mean CRT score was found to be only at or below the "average" levels of other professional, non-teacher normative samples. No significant between-group CRT mean differences were found for these students' year of course, graduate/non-graduate status, age, or gender. In conclusion, the effective teaching-learning of the skills and dispositions underlying critical reasoning does not appear to be progressing well in at least some areas of tertiary education. Such evidence suggested that more attention should be given to facilitating this important area of student learning in universities in the new millennium. (YLB)

The Australian Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) established the Taskforce on Indigenous Education to address issues of educational inequity for aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It had a number of terms of reference, including providing advice to Ministers on making these issues a matter of urgent national priority. This discussion paper is a result of Taskforce consultative actions in raising the profile of Indigenous education and highlighting the need to improve educational equity. The Taskforce commends this paper and encourages all involved in the education of Indigenous students to explore the issues raised and to foster greater progress. Appendix 1 describes the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy; Appendix 2 is the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the 21st Century (1999); Appendix 3 is an extract from draft minutes on the 10th MCEETYA 1999 decision; Appendix 4 is a Taskforce membership list; Appendix 5 gives Taskforce terms of reference; Appendix 6 is statistical details; Appendix 7 gives different perspectives on the nature and purpose of education; Appendix 8 reports preliminary outcomes of strategic results projects; and Appendix 9 states the 1992 COAG National Commitment to Improved Outcomes in the Delivery of Programs and Services for Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. (Contains 36 references.) (RT)

This paper examines the issue of the responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs) for and response to rising unemployment rates and economic decline within Australian society. It presents an analysis of the salary and employment status of college graduates over time, revealing that types of graduates with initially high levels of unemployment do eventually get absorbed into the workforce. Additionally, the paper examines reports from various countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development on the relation of unemployment to graduates of the humanities and social sciences - the implication being that problems of employment were greatest for such graduates. Other topics discussed include: (1) changes in student distribution and enrollment in various fields of study and the responsibility of HEIs to respond to changes in educational demand; (2) the nature of technology and its relation to higher education and employment; (3) the issue of HEIs' ability to predict employers' demands for a great range of changing skills and to supply that demand with qualified graduates; and (4) HEIs' role in displacing labor through its research and development contributions to technological change. (GLR)

This paper presents results from the first phase of a longitudinal study of the Australian Postgraduate Awards (Industry) Scheme, a recent government initiative under which graduate students receive grants to conduct projects for Masters or PhD degrees, supervised jointly by university and industry partners. The study involved national surveys of each participating group - students, faculty, and company staff - and sought to compare views on a range of issues, some pertaining to the operation of the program and its outcomes, others in reference to perennial issues in graduate education. The paper explores questions at the intersection of both sets of issues, demonstrating benefits of the program to each participating group, in contrast with perceptions of some of the constraints on higher degree research in the context of university-industry collaborations. The study found that the program is highly valued by its participants and that it provides opportunities for students to undertake research of industrial relevance while working towards a higher degree, research that the partners agree would not have been viable otherwise. However, results are not conclusive, and the apparent degree of uncertainty about research careers in Australia among the program participants is discussed in the report's concluding section. Contains 30 references. (Author/GLR)

This paper explores the impact of policies and institutions on employment and unemployment of OECD countries in the past decades. Reduced-form unemployment equations, consistent with standard wage setting/price-setting models, are estimated using cross-country/time-series data from 21 OECD countries over the period 1982-2003. In the "average" OECD country, high and long-lasting unemployment benefits, high tax wedges and stringent anticompetitive product market regulation are found to increase aggregate unemployment. By contrast, highly centralised and/or coordinated wage bargaining systems are estimated to reduce unemployment. These findings are robust across specifications, datasets and econometric methods. As policies and institutions affect employment not only via their impact on aggregate unemployment but also through their effects on labour market participation -- particularly for those groups "at the margin" of the labour market, group-specific employment rate equations are also estimated. In the "average" OECD country, high unemployment benefits and high tax wedges are found to be associated with lower employment prospects for all groups studied, namely prime-age males, females, older workers and youths. There is also evidence that group-specific policy determinants matter, such as targeted fiscal incentives. The paper also finds significant evidence of interactions across policies and institutions, as well as between institutions and macroeconomic conditions. Consistent with theory, structural reforms appear to have mutually reinforcing effects: the impact of a given policy reform is greater the more employment-friendly the overall policy and institutional framework. Certain more specific interactions across policies and institutions are found to be particularly robust, notably between unemployment benefits and public spending on active labour market programmes as well as between statutory minimum wages and the tax wedge. Finally, it is shown that macroeconomic conditions also matter for unemployment patterns, with their impact being shaped by policies. (A bibliography is included. Contains 144 footnotes, 9 figures, 3 boxes and 27 tables.)