It is interesting to note that recent research conducted by ACER shows that RTO’s are facing change, in terms of speed and nature, that has not been seen before. The managing of diverse and at times conflicting priorities is placing new and escalating pressures on management and their organisations.
They also reveal the following for current RTO’s:
- Public funding per student is decreasing as regulatory activity increases.
- The need for highly skilled workers continues to climb, but the capacity to plan for growth is becoming more difficult.
- Competition between public and private providers is increasing,
- pressure is growing to create new sources of income from fee-for-service business activities,
- and not-for-profit institutions are becoming much more commercially focused.
- Students, both domestic and international, are more numerous, diverse and forthright about getting value for money and accessing better course information.
Australia’s training industry is operating in an increasingly international environment that brings with it new pressures and expectations.
RTOs operate across a diverse range of markets:
- government funded programs,
- full-fee programs increasingly through income contingent loans),
- full-fee international students, through commercial training contracts with enterprises in local, national and international markets and through by providing tailored services to enterprises from training needs assessment, delivery, and product development and design.
Delivery strategies vary significantly – from traditional face-to-face delivery, workplace delivery, e-learning and blended approaches, with some providers focusing almost exclusively on specific strategies such as workplace delivery.
So what does the future hold?
- Demographic change, in terms of population growth
- Growth in particular localities around Australia
- the impact of population aging
- low birth rates during the 80’s impacting the VET sector and potential students.
So how does this impact on your RTO?
First there may be a need for very different approaches to:
- marketing,
- course structures,
- the delivery structure for older learners, particularly those with low skills levels and who are disengaged from learning.
The second is the need for partnerships between government and private sector and approaches to manage the consequences of both population growth and population decline.
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