Vocational Institutions, Undergraduate Degrees

ARC Discovery Project 2017-2020

Dissemination reporting at project close

The research team published a Dissemination Report summarising the activities and findings of the project at project close. On this page investigators and co-collaborators explored project findings.

Lead Chief Investigator's overview at project close - May 2020

Video explaining the overview of the project by Professor Sue Webb, Lead Chief Investigator of the project (Download mp4 file, 13 mb)

The Australian Research Council Project Vocational Institutions, Undergraduate Degrees ran from May 2017 to May 2020. The research team includes researchers from Australia, England and Scotland. The core team is based in Australia and the project was led from Monash University with Chief Investigators based at Deakin University and Griffith University and Partner Investigators in University of Birmingham and University of Glasgow.

The project team worked with a project reference group which draws on expertise from vocational education, higher education and careers education. There are invited members on the group from the vocational education sector, higher education sector and national student career advisory service organisations. There were many collaborators on the project, who are listed in the dissemination report, including some who did not wish to be named.

In the following sections colleagues and collaborators comment on the impact of the project and its lasting influence. The sections can be scrolled to or click the links below:

Co-Chief Investigators discuss project findings

The research project had four research questions as outlined in the first project update (pdf 500kb). Interim findings were published in October 2019, drawn from the various data gathering methods and were validated in a stakeholder exercise in Summer 2019/20. The project findings against each research question are summarised by the Chief Investigators Dr Shaun Rawolle and Dr Steven Hodge in four videos below:

Research Question 1

Chief Investigator Dr Shaun Rawolle of Deakin University discusses the project's findings in relation to Research Question 1 (Download mp4 file, 40 mb)

Research Question 2

Chief Investigator Dr Shaun Rawolle of Deakin University discusses the project's findings in relation to Research Question 2 (Download mp4 file, 40 mb)

Research Question 3

Chief Investigator Dr Steven Hodge of Griffith University discusses the project's findings in relation to Research Question 3 (Download mp4 file, 14mb)

Research Question 4

Chief Investigator Dr Steven Hodge of Griffith University also discusses the project's findings in relation to Research Question 4 (Download mp4 file, 22mb)

International Partner Investigators' project reflections

The Australian Research Council Discovery project benefited from having two senior international partners who have a long history of researching higher and vocational education. The videos below show their reflections on the project:

The international context

Our Partner Investigator Professor Ann-Marie Bathmaker talks about how the project sits within the international research on higher vocational education, including the forthcoming Palgrave edited book 'Equity, High Skills and Productivity' Download the video (mp4 file, 40 mb)

The higher education context

Our Partner Investigator Professor Trevor Gale reflects on the project's analysis of the distinctiveness of college based higher education and how this contributes to our understanding of the higher education field as a whole. Download the video (mp4 file, 64 mb)

External Reference Group collaborator messages

The Research Team were supported by many collaborators, significantly the project's External Reference Group who met six times over the project and advised on all aspects.

Members of the external reference group were planning to speak at the final dissemination event and below is collected a number of video messages about the research along with a representative of the National Union of Students.

Ili Pelletier, Head of Higher Education Standards, TAFE NSW and Chair, Higher Education Network of TAFE Directors

(Download mp4, 37mb)

Dr Genevieve Knight, Research and Data Analytics , National Centre of Vocational Education Research

(Download mp4, 115mb)

Professor Michele Simons, Western Sydney University and Australian Vocational Education and Research Association

(Download mp4, 31mb)

Lincoln Aspinall, the Education Officer of the National Union of Students for 2020

(Download mp4, 22mb)

Theoretical engagement with the project

Project Chief Investigators Shaun Rawolle and Steven Hodge explore the use of theory in the design of the project in the videos below:

How theory operates in the project - Using Bourdieu

Dr Shaun Rawolle talks about the use of Bourdieu in the ARC project.

(Download mp4, 39mb)

How theory operates in the project - Using Bernstein

Dr Steven Hodge talks about the use of Bernstein in the ARC project.

(Download mp4, 14mb)

Please note that all the videos have facility for closed captions in full screen mode, these are auto-generated.