ABC unaware CIT is not a university

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

If a couple of programs is enough to get you over the line, then that would make CDU a tech college. I honestly don’t know.

There is a growing number of dual sector providers such as Swinburne & CDU that have a wide range of VET and Higher Ed offerings. There are also a number of small specialist providers that have a nominal “university” status, they tend to be Hotel schools and business colleges.

Current moves federally to combine the two sectors and have one quality and accrediting body will no doubt see more created. They already share a MINCO, MCTEE, and for all intents and purposes the “tertiary sector” is now both VET and HE.

They do offer several Bachelor Degree level programs, is this not what qualifies a University?

Some of the degrees are offered in partnership with universities. For example, the IT and Business degrees are actually Charles Sturt Uni qualifications. They do seem to offer their own P Photography and B Design (Fashion Design), though. Still, offering degrees doesn’t make an institution a uni any more than a uni offering tech ed makes it a TAFE.

CIT is as much a University as UC.

Universities have the power to design and offer their own degree courses. CIT’s degree programs must be assessed and approved. CIT is not a member of Universities Australia, and is not recognised as a university under state or federal legislation. CIT is a government institute, established as a statutory authority, answerable to the ACT government. CIT doesn’t offer any postgrad qualifications, and its research is limited to VET education.

If you mean ‘it has lecturers and classrooms and offers degrees’ – *shrug*. Does offering two degrees, both with non-degree exit paths, representing a very minor fraction of your overall program offering make you a university? Or does it make you a tech that happens to offer a couple of degrees? If a couple of programs is enough to get you over the line, then that would make CDU a tech college. I honestly don’t know.

CIT is as much a University as UC.

“Even more terrible is the ABC hiring sub-editors who think the CIT is a university.”

They do offer several Bachelor Degree level programs, is this not what qualifies a University?

‘and’ should be ‘And’, if you get my drift…

Pork Hunt said :

I wonder who will be the new minister for the Sustainable Acronyms Department,States and Commonwealth (SADSAC)??

One of the Family Unification Council of Knowledge Hierarchy of Education and Design staff.

I wonder who will be the new minister for the Sustainable Acronyms Department,States and Commonwealth (SADSAC)??

Well done Skid, you’ve manages to break into our little world of VETspeak

Skidbladnir said :

Skidbladnir said :

Neanderthalsis, that one is specifically for you, as RiotACT eats my irony flags.
(CIT is a provider)

The original reason is that government providers (TAFEs) believed that the original funding level was too low, so didn’t tender to become a provider. Now many of the providers and the Australian Education Union are up in arms because of the amount of public money flowing to private providers.

Skidbladnir said :

[1) CIT does not offer FEE-HELP supported places in their vocational stream, as they only offer FEE-HELP for four educations streams, none of which are vocational. (Because thats not how FEE-HELP is structured)

VET FEE HELP is a different beast to normal FEE HELP in that it is designed specifically to provide support for students in vocational streams.

Skidbladnir said :

CIT is not a provider approved for ACT PPP Sobseeker support by the ACT Department of Education & Training.

Neanderthalsis, that one is specifically for you, as RiotACT eats my irony flags.
(CIT is a provider)

Ari said :

Could somebody translate this into English please?

ACT: Australian Capital Territory
VET: Vocational Education and Training
FEE-HELP: Higher Education Loan Program (the capitalised ‘FEE’ stands for ‘Fee’)
CIT: Canberra Institute of Technology
PPP: Productivity Places Program( as administered by State&Territory Governments)
range of quals originally negotiated: the set of qualifications (ie: trades) eligible for the PPP funding.
NPPPP: National Partnership Agreement for PPP (IE: Federal Govt’s job is to provide funding and manage the Agreement with the States & Territories, S&T Govts work out the fiddly bits of actually doing work).

The above comment from Neanderthalsis is a complaint that:
1) CIT does not offer FEE-HELP supported places in their vocational stream, as they only offer FEE-HELP for four educations streams, none of which are vocational. (Because thats not how FEE-HELP is structured)
2) CIT offers no support for VET FEE-HELP.
3) the set of ACT Govt PPP supported qualifications is much smaller than the list of those indicated as funded through the NPPP.
4) None of those PPP supported positions are actually being provided by CIT.

As evidence to support neanderthalsis’ complaint as being potentially valid:
1 & 2) CIT only offers four FEE HELP courses, and no VET FEE HELP courses.
3) the Federally funded set of qualifications is 29 pages long in size 9 font (ie: lots of qualifation codes), while the ACT list is only 5 pages long in size 12 font (ie: only a small number of qualification codes).
4) CIT is not a provider approved for ACT PPP Sobseeker support by the ACT Department of Education & Training.

10 minutes research and some Googling