What now? What next? Insights into Australia's tertiary education sector

In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Jobs and Skills Australia's Deputy Commissioners, Trevor Gauld and Megan Lilly.

There are references throughout their conversation to a number of JSA reports and data available on the JSA website. If you don't already visit the site regularly then these links may be useful to you:

• Monthly labour market data at the regional level: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/employment-region-dashboards-and-profiles
• GenAI Capacity Study (and opportunity to engage in current consultations): https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/studies/generative-artificial-intelligence-capacity-study
• Tertiary Harmonisation: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/publications/opportunity-and-productivity-towards-tertiary-harmonisation-roadmap
• Clean Energy Capacity Study: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/research/studies/clean-energy-capacity-study
• First Nations People Workforce Analysis: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/studies/first-nations-people-workforce-analysis
• Foundation Skills Study: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/studies/foundation-skills-study 
• Gender Economic Equality Study: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/research/studies/gender-economic-equality-study
• International Students Pathways and Outcomes Study: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/international-students-pathways-and-outcomes-study
• VET Workforce Study: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/studies/vet-workforce-study

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode of the podcast, Claire is joined by RMIT University's Deputy Vice Chancellor Vocational Education and Vice President, Mish Eastman. Mish explains how the university's College of Vocational Education is partnering with Australian and international businesses and governments to deliver impact for learners.

During the episode Mish references:

• RMIT's new 'Earn and Learn' model: https://www.rmit.edu.au/partner/recruit-students-and-graduates/earn-and-learn
• The new model was written up by the Australian Financial Review: https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/careers/how-this-engineering-student-will-graduate-debt-free-from-rmit-20250320-p5ll3t
• And RMIT's cyber safety/resilience programs in Indonesia are detailed here: https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2025/feb/indonesia-cyber-security

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode Claire is joined by the Vice Chancellor of Western Sydney University, Prof. George Williams.

Prof. Williams' Meanjin article is available at: https://meanjin.com.au/essays/a-university-not-a-corporation/

And you can email [email protected] if you're interested in a one month free trial of Claire's regular analysis and updates on the tertiary sector.

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by researcher and educational designer Dr Selena Chan from Ara Institute of Technology. She explains the incredible work being done in New Zealand to help their VET (and higher education) sectors grapple with GenAI.

If you don't regularly attend the annual AVETRA Conference - then you're missing out on hearing from great researchers like Dr Chan. Details on this year's conference are at: https://avetra.org.au/conference2025

The following resources are discussed during the episode:

• TEQSA's GenAI resources: https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/higher-education-good-practice-hub/artificial-intelligence
• Prof. Mike Sharples: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/case-studies/2023/aug/generative-ai-and-education-futures
• Prof. Ethan Mollick: https://www.oneusefulthing.org
• US research on GenAI helping improve completion rate in a short course: https://au.pcmag.com/ai/100574/harvards-new-computer-science-teacher-is-a-chatbot
• UK gardener using ChatGPT to improve literacy: https://zapier.com/blog/how-a-contractor-uses-ai-to-write-business-emails/
• CEDEFOP research on digital skills: https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/news/embracing-human-centred-ai-unlock-eu-competitiveness

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode of the podcast Dr Rocco Guarnaccia joins Claire to discuss his research on commercial, for-profit, providers. He shares his insights into which RTOs are likely to thrive and which will struggle as the sector continues to change.

Rocco's thesis is available at: https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/5de8508e-cc37-49f3-ace6-dcd7e8512dd5

The government media release on 'ghost colleges'/lapsed providers: https://ministers.dewr.gov.au/giles/over-150-ghost-colleges-axed

Claire's analysis of the data on 'ghost colleges' (lapsed providers):
https://clairefield.com.au/the-list-of-144-of-the-150-ghost-colleges-including-more-schools-the-nsw-taxi-council-ausgrid-and-more/

ASQA's actions to revoke thousands of VET qualifications:
https://www.asqa.gov.au/information-former-students-cancelled-providers

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by two casual academics, Emily Foley and Tony Williams, who also hold positions at the National Tertiary Education Union. Emily and Tony share their personal experiences and those of others in the sector and what the highly casualised, precarious nature of their employment means.

The articles and reports mentioned in the podcast are listed below - but before you get to them, here's another one that takes a very different approach: Prof. George Williams at Western Sydney University writes in Meanjin that universities are not corporations.

• NTEU: University wage theft on track to exceed $382 million nationally
• FWO: University of Melbourne signs Enforceable Undertaking
• FWO: University of Sydney signs Enforceable Undertaking
• AFR: 'I'm not going to say no to a nice salary' outgoing Melbourne Uni boss
• The Guardian: Revealed: University of Sydney spent millions more on consultants than repaying wages of casual staff
• University Chancellors Council: Submission to the Universities Accord Panel's Interim Report 
• Bluesky: Ben Eltham thread on the Monash University Federal Court wage theft case 
• The Guardian: Australian Catholic University sparks anger over scrapping medieval history and philosophy departments
• Times Higher Education: World University Rankings 2025

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Prof Himashu Rai from the Indian Institute of Management Indore. What IIM Indore is doing to educate the next generation of Indian business leaders and engineers has to be heard to be believed.

If you want to know more about IIM Indore - their website is: https://iimidr.ac.in/ and you can find Prof. Rai on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/askhimanshurai/

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this special episode of the podcast, Claire is joined by Dirk Mulder, founder and CEO of The Koala News and Tracy Harris, Principal, Tracy Harris Solutions to discuss where the international education sector stands now that the government's legislative changes to amend the ESOS Act look unlikely to be passed by the Senate.

The podcast is the audio recording of a webinar Claire, Dirk and Tracy hosted. If you want to watch the video instead you'll find it at: https://clairefield.com.au/international-student-caps-webinar-recording/

If you're not already a subscriber to the Koala News - you definitely should be: https://thekoalanews.com

Finally, if you want to connect with Dirk and Tracy - here are their LinkedIn profiles:

• Tracy Harris
• Dirk Mulder

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Chemène Sinson and Maria Langwell to discuss the Revised Standards and why it's important that the Standards should still include a definition of 'competency', why there is a need for proper education and support for RTOs during this transition, and how training providers can map their existing practices to the new Standards.

If you haven't seen the Revised Standards yet - they're still technically in draft form until they are legislated - but they have been signed off by State, Territory and Australian government Skills Ministers, so for now they're available on the DEWR website: https://www.dewr.gov.au/standards-for-rtos

And if you don't know Maria or Chemène - here's where you'll find them on LinkedIn:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/chemenesinson/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-langwell-23617766/

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au

On this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by two VET leaders helping shape VET's response to changes in the way work is done in the construction industry: Jason Jennings from the ACT's Construction Industry Training Council and Eve Price from ConCOVE (New Zealand's Construction & Infrastructure Centre of Vocational Excellence).

You can find out more about ConCOVE at: https://concove.ac.nz and about CITC at: https://www.citc.org.au

And if you're interested in AI and its impact on teaching and assessment - although the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) has not yet produced any resources to support VET providers with this challenge, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency has developed an impressive array of practical resources which are also highly relevant to the VET sector: https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/higher-education-good-practice-hub/artificial-intelligence

Contact Claire:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field
• Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social 
• Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au
• Email me at: [email protected] 

The ‘What now? What next?’ podcast recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia’s traditional custodians. In the spirit of reconciliation we are proud to recommend John Briggs Consulting as a leader in Reconciliation and Indigenous engagement. To find out more go to www.johnbriggs.net.au