by: Emma Laurence
The long-awaited final report of the Accord was released just prior to the Universities Australia Conference at the end of February. The Final Report has a strong focus on providing access to higher education for traditionally under-represented cohorts (First Nations, Low SES and Rural and Remote).
The Interim report touched on Work Integrated Learning (WIL) without much detail and it’s pleasing to see a more formulated and considered focus on WIL in the Final Report.
The Final Report delves into Placement Poverty and its impact on students, particularly those in under-represented cohorts. In WIL focused projects DVE has undertaken for universities, we have heard firsthand from students who are facing financial and personal pressures because of their placements. Often students describe it as ‘unpaid labour’ and are particularly impacted when they must give up part-time work to undertake mandatory placements. This is compounded when they are required to undertake placements in rural and regional areas, creating a double hit on income and rent. The Accord touches on contributions by industry, government, universities, unions and employers towards the costs, and in particular government funding for nursing and teaching placements. It will be interesting to see further details about how this will work in practice, and whether funding will be part of the May budget.
DVE has also found that students feel that supervisors in industry often have difference perceptions of what supervision means; student have certain expectations of how much, and what type of supervision they should get, and often this expectation is not met. These findings have been reflected in the Accord and the Government is planning to address this through appropriate training of industry supervisors (Recommendation 7). This will go a considerable way to improving student satisfaction with their work integrated leaning activities.
Perhaps the most interesting of the recommendations around WIL and skills development is the introduction of ‘Jobs Broker’, allowing students to find part-time work in their field of study. There is already a great deal of excellent work being done by career services in this space, both in finding appropriate work for students studying, as well as assisting with the development of career pathways and planning. While the introduction of a more wholistic approach to this across the sector is admirable, it is difficult, without finer detail, to understand how Jobs Broker will dovetail with paid placements, recognition of prior work experience and existing career/employment services offered at universities. What it will do however, is strengthen the link between relevant employment, WIL and careers services. DVE has worked with many universities that have moved to a centralised WIL management model, and they may find the implementation of Accord schemes such as Jobs Broker, paid placements and WIL easier to manage as it allows for full oversight of all WIL activities.
In the coming months, DVE will be holding a second ‘Fireside Chat’ on WIL and the Accord, where we will discuss these and other areas in depth. Stay tuned for further details in the next few weeks.
At DVE we are looking forward to assisting our clients implement these new and exciting WIL recommendations over the next few years, particularly as we roll out Placements Plus, which will provide technology solutions for WIL and assist universities in meeting their government obligations in this space.
For more information on Placements Plus, or to register for our Fireside Chat contact us at info@dvesolutions.com.au. Feel free to visit our Events and Webinars page for further details on our upcoming webinars.
