Uni Plan Wants More Graduates to Sustain Future Economy

Young people from lower income backgrounds and regional communities are at the centre of new plans to boost the number of Australians entering and finishing tertiary education. A year in the making, the universities accord lays out a decades-long blueprint for the higher education system to support the economy. At least 80 percent of the workforce should have a vocational education and training (VET) or university qualification by 2050, up from the current 60 percent. To achieve this, enrolments must include students with under-represented backgrounds including people from outer suburbs, the regions, lower socio-economic communities, and Indigenous Australians. Other targets include boosting to 55 percent the proportion of university-educated Australians aged between 25 to 34, up from 45 percent, while increasing the vocational qualifications of that cohort to 40 per cent....