Higher Education Review Process

Striving for Quality: Learning, Teaching and Scholarship

2. the distinctiveness of 'higher education'

‘Higher’ education should mean a higher quality, a standard or benchmark against which experience of many kinds, learning at all levels and of all types, study and reflective inquiry are to be appraised. (Skilbeck, 2001, p.96)

4     A review of higher education necessarily needs to examine what distinguishes a higher education learning experience from that experienced at the secondary school level or in vocational education and training or in workplace learning. It is useful to think about making this distinction in terms of the ‘where’, ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of educational provision and learning experiences. 

5     No longer can higher education be determined merely by virtue of where the educational experience takes place. The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) defines higher education courses as those leading to the award of a bachelor degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma, masters degree or doctoral degree. Some courses leading to the award of a diploma or advanced diploma may also be accredited as higher education. While universities continue to offer almost all higher education in Australia, there are already some Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions offering higher education courses. A small but growing number of accredited private non-university providers offer higher education courses. There are also five major dual sector institutions in Australia that provide both vocational education and training and higher education, under the auspices of an institution called a ‘university’.

6     As higher education in Australia has moved to mass provision, it is not so easy to distinguish it from other forms of educational provision in terms of ‘who’ participates. While there remain concerns that some groups do not participate equally in higher education, participation is much broader now than in the past.

7     There is an ongoing debate over the ‘what’ of higher education. This is exemplified by the tension between whether higher education should provide students with a liberal, general education, with a focus on learning for its own sake, or a professionally focused, specialist preparation for the workforce.

8     Yet the focus on work-force preparation in Australian higher education institutions is well embedded, stemming from a European university heritage of preparing lawyers, theologians and doctors for professional practice. The University of Western Sydney’s submission to the Senate Inquiry emphasised its understanding of a professional orientation for higher education: 

Universities are no longer charged with preparing only the ‘brightest’ of each cohort for their professional futures. They are, instead, charged with preparing a large and diverse student population for effective participation in both traditional and new professions, as well as for their increasingly complex role as informed citizens. (University of Western Sydney, 2001, p. 24)

9     Questions have been raised about the appropriateness of the apparent convergence of purpose and role of the higher education and vocational and education sectors. If the vocational education and training sector provides ‘education and training for work’, how different is a higher education course for a professionally oriented degree? Is there a point at which higher education, by emphasising the development of professional expertise, loses its distinctiveness and perhaps its significance? Is there something that distinguishes a higher education from vocational education and training, beyond the preparation for work?

10   A liberal, general education and a professionally focused education are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The broad conceptions of a liberal education as espoused by Cardinal Newman in 1852 may be unsustainable, but the development of generic skills and knowledge should remain an essential part of all undergraduate education. An appropriate way to distinguish higher education from other educational provision is through the effective coupling and integration of the generic outcomes of a general education with preparation for specialised and professional participation in the workforce. The OECD in its thematic review of the first years of tertiary education in Australia asked: 

Why have there been so few attempts to develop institutional programmes that ensure an effective combination of general or liberal studies and more directly vocational ones? Why, in short, is there relatively little evidence in Australian tertiary education of the kind of rethinking of the overall undergraduate degree? (OECD, 1997, p.21)

11   A synergetic delivery of both elements, with a focus on the development of intellectual autonomy, through critical enquiry, problem-solving and self-directed learning, would surely contribute to ensuring the distinctiveness of a higher education.

12   What of the ‘how’ of the learning experience? The Dearing Committee asked a group of prominent British researchers specialising in learning to explore this question, by identifying what was distinctive about learning at the ‘higher level’. It concluded that:

…it can be defined as the development of understanding and the ability to apply knowledge in a range of situations. This requires information and the opportunity to engage in ‘learning conversations’ with staff and other students in order to understand and be able to use new concepts in a particular field. A successful student will be able to engage in an effective discussion or debate with others in that field, relying on a common understanding of terms, assumptions, questions, modes of argument, and the body of evidence. Learning also involves acquiring skills, such as analysis and communication, but these in isolation do not constitute learning. (NCIHE, 1997, 8.6)

13   The debate about what makes a higher education learning experience distinctive is important. Whilst academics and higher education institutions understand and are confident about the significance of their role and contribution to the growth of individuals and to the development of Australia as a knowledge society, this needs to be more actively advocated in the broader community. A question asked by a US commentator about the US higher education sector, could equally be asked of Australian higher education institutions: “Have we fallen asleep assuming that we have made this case and we now fail to keep making it?” (Newman, 2001, p.17).

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This page was last updated on Monday, 04 August 2008

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