The National Food Plan: food policy or something else?

 Image source: wikimedia commons

The Australian Government released the National Food Plan White Paper (the Paper) on 25 May 2013. At the time the then Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said ‘For the first time, Australia’s food businesses and consumers have a road map for the future…’ The Paper, however, is not about food for Australians; it has minimal focus on what Australians eat, or food processing in Australia. It is more an export plan, particularly for Australian producers.

Australia's tertiary students - the latest snapshot

Almost twice as many higher education graduates enrol in vocational education and training courses than the other way round.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has just released Tertiary Education and Training 2010, an annual publication that compares vocational education and training (VET) and higher education on a range of key measures.

It draws on data from the National VET Provider Collection and the Higher Education Statistics Collection.

Dissecting the growth of vocational education and training in Victoria

Image source: Victorian Government

The announcement of an Enterprise Migration Agreement providing for the recruitment of temporary overseas workers for the Roy Hill project in the Pilbara has fuelled debate about the supply of skilled workers for industry, and to what extent Australia needs to import skills rather than ‘grow our own’.

Amid this debate, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has released preliminary Students and Courses data for 2011. The full publication (due in July) provides data on the numbers of students, subject enrolments, hours of delivery and qualifications in Australia’s public vocational education and training (VET) system.

The preliminary data reveals some interesting results for one state in particular: Victoria.