Financing Vocational Training and Lifelong Learning. CEET Working Paper No. 30.

This paper discusses the need for increasing the provision of education and training in Australia and the problems in financing it. Section 1 discusses the problems to be addressed: need for more education and training due to technological and global change affecting employment and unemployment, together with the aging of the population. Section 2 briefly reviews the extent to which Australia appears to be addressing the needs. It considers the changes in institutional education and in employer-based training in recent years, looking at issues of participation and intensity, quality, and inequality for younger and older persons. Section 3 considers the restrictions in public expenditure and the various policy changes accompanying it. Section 4 addresses options in ways of providing finance that will encourage the direction of funds for education and training to the areas of most need. These schemes for payment by governments, individuals, and employers are discussed: public funds (entitlements, student assistance--Youth Allowance); payments by individuals (increased fees, increased fees plus access to interest bearing private loans, increased fees plus contingent loans financed by the government as in the Higher Education Contribution Scheme); and increasing employer funding through government-mandated levels of training, social partnerships in training, and employer reporting of intellectual capital. (Contains 31 references and 9 tables.) (YLB)