Students have the best of both worlds

Students also have used vocational certificates as a stepping stone towards their aim to study a desired course at university.

But students now seek the benefits both learning institutions can provide, with the grounding and practical experience vocational learning offers as well as the theoretical skills taught at university, to give them an edge in their careers and with employers.

TAFE SA has 553 agreements with seven tertiary institutions across Australia which allow students to gain a diploma or higher level qualification and use it to move into a bachelor degree program at university.

TAFE SA Adelaide South managing director Stephen Conway says TAFE SA students are becoming more mobile in their choice of post-school education.

He says TAFE’s credit transfer scheme allows for a streamlined, informed transition for students and strengthens its pathways to university study.

“Credit transfer in tertiary education gives many vocational education and training (VET) students opportunities for articulation into higher education,” he says.

TAFE SA registered 115 agreements to its credit transfer and articulation agreements in 2010 alone and more guaranteed transfer agreements are being added to the list.

It includes the TAFE SA advanced diploma, which now provides guaranteed entry into the specialised Bachelor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship offered at the University of Adelaide.

The advanced diploma also offers guaranteed admission into a variety of qualifications at Flinders University through the TAFElink initiative.

Commerce student Robert McArthur, 24, believed combining study at TAFE SA and the University of Adelaide was the right mix for him. The 2009 and 2010 winner of the Harvey Norman Young Marketer of the Year (SA) award says the combination of the experiences and opportunities both options presented gives him his best chance to start his career quickly and successfully.

“TAFE alone would not have been sufficient. Uni alone would not have been sufficient. But both together were just right,” he says.

“Starting at TAFE SA with certificate, diploma and then ad-

vanced diploma marketing qualifications gave me 36 points towards (entry into) my commerce bachelor degree.

“I think doing my study this way was the best decision I could have made.”

His vocational qualifications helped him secure work on one day a week as a marketing assistant at Wok in a Box while he completes his degree and within five years, he plans to work in a senior management role.

The arrangement between TAFE SA and universities is supported by the State Government which wants to modernise and renew the vocational education and training sector.

Its Skills for All initiative aims to provide more choice for students to receive training which gives them the skills industry needs.

Study choices