Skills planning not making the grade
Much focus in recent months has been on our dwindling workforce – as more and more baby bombers leave work and begin to spend their kids inheritance, concern is growing over who will replace them. Well a report released today says that the Federal Government’s current solution of placing the focus on vocational and apprentice training is the wrong way to solve this problem. The Monash University report, Clearing the myths away: higher education’s place in meeting workforce demands, argues that not enough focus is being placed on the need for more university graduates. The report also argues that students from lower-socio economic backgrounds are not being given enough financial support to get to and stay at university. One of the authors of the report, Dr Bob Birrell, spoke earlier with The Wire.