Abstract:

The changes in the higher education sector recommended by the Review of Australian Higher Education have resulted in many Australian universities exploring strategies to ensure that they consolidate or enhance their position in an uncapped under-graduate market. Also arising from this review are new targets that universities will be required to meet regarding the numbers of participating students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds, a traditionally under-represented group at Australian universities . While less than 20% of low SES students apply directly for university courses, the rate of participation in Vocational and Education Training has been found to increase relative to the decrease in SES.
These policy changes have prompted the need to review student transition, particularly the transition from Technical and Further Education (TAFE) to university to ensure movement between the two sectors is more accessible. Traditionally TAFE students complete Diploma or Advanced Diploma awards that provide them with credit of up to one and a half years when applying for a Bachelor's degree program at university. Admission to university and the amount of credit attained has been reliant in the past on various criteria related to academic perfomance in TAFE and the programs.
A Guaranteed Entry Scheme (GES) was implemented in the dual sector institution where this case study is located to enable TAFE students to seamlessly move between the two divisions. To capitalise on the nature of being a dual-sector institution, students entering the current institution’s TAFE sector in 2011, were guaranteed a commonwealth supported place in a university degree program with pre-established block credit upon completion of a Diploma or Advanced Diploma. The introduction of the Guaranteed Entry Scheme (GES) led to an overview of student transition between the two sectors, because it is acknowledged that TAFE and University have different pedagogical and assessment practices, potentially making transition between the two forms of learning challenging for some students.
This transition from TAFE diplomas to a university degree program presented its own set of challenges. Acting on results from a student survey, a targeted orientation program was developed for articulating TAFE students. The outcome of this event and the subsequent student evaluation led to the recommendation that orientation and transition activities be made explicit rather than assumed, even for students who believed they knew their institution due to the geographical co-location of TAFE and university campuses.

Keywords:

Student transition.