Integration requires radical thinking

Meeting ambitious Commonwealth targets for low SES participation presents significant challenges for metropolitan universities. Currently about one third of Australian universities are achieving the federal government’s low SES enrolment target of 20 per cent. Of the 14 universities achieving this target, only two are metropolitan. And not surprisingly, one of those two universities is a dual sector institution---Victoria University. The national average for low SES domestic undergraduate enrolment is currently 15.7 per cent. Based on 2008 figures, articulation rates between VET/TAFE and higher education at Australia’s five dual sector universities---Victoria, Ballarat, Charles Darwin, RMIT and Swinburne---range from about eight per cent to almost 30 per cent. Swinburne has the highest articulation rate of 29.7 per cent. In order to improve low SES participation rates the discussion has centred on pathways that will enable students currently clustered in the VET sector to move through into higher education. There is no doubt that approaches to pathways can be---and need to be---improved. So, why not take the concept of pathways one step further and make the pathways guaranteed? Guaranteed means that success at one level of study guarantees students entry to the next level, just as it does in secondary school. If you successfully complete your TAFE Diploma course, then you have a place in an undergraduate degree. Swinburne introduced its Guaranteed Entry Scheme (GES) this year. The GES gives current Swinburne TAFE Diploma and Advanced Diploma students guaranteed entry into at least one Swinburne undergraduate program. The students automatically receive this offer when they enrol in TAFE. There is no need to apply because the scheme operates on an opt-out rather than opt-in philosophy. We are the first Australian university to introduce such a scheme and have now mapped 2740 pathways for our students. Our aim is to continue developing the scheme and expanding the choice of pathways on offer.