News

Celebrating 100 Years of Engineering

Celebrating the centenary of representing their profession, our member association Engineers Australia co-hosted the World Engineers Convention 2019 with the World Federation of Engineering Organisations in Melbourne last week.

The World Federation of Engineering Organisations is the peak body for engineering institutions internationally, representing more than 90 countries and 20 million engineers around the world. This is the first time that Engineers Australia and World Federation of Engineering Organisations have co-hosted a convention in Australia.

Engineers Australia is one of the largest professional associations for engineering in the world, representing all engineering disciplines and active in accreditation and setting international standards for engineering education.

Engineers Australia is a proud Member of the Australian Council of Professions. EA Executive General Manager, Professional Standards & Practice Ron Watts CompIEAust FAHRI said “The World Engineers Convention is a great example of how professions in Australia showcase all that is great about how the professions contribute to the communities they serve and a reminder that we are part of a global community. Over 75 nations were represented at WEC.”

The Australian Council of Professions congratulates Engineers Australia on their work to help shape, regulate and represent the profession. ACoP President Klaus Veil FACHI FHL7 said “Engineering is a profession that is integral to every field of human endeavour and touches the life of every Australian.  From the professionals that enable us to be mobile by designing our roads, railways and airports, the experts that keep us healthy and safe designing and testing medical equipment to those that push the boundaries beyond the earth designing telescopes and spacecraft – all are part of the community of over 100,000 professionals in Engineers Australia.  The Australian Council of Professions thanks Engineers Australia for 100 years of service to the Australian community.”

Education & Employability Initiative

This initiative seeks to explore the future of learning and employability to support a fair, equitable, socially cohesive and prosperous Australia. Led by the Australian Council of Professions, it brings together educators, the professions and industry in a collaborative conversation of thought leaders from various vantage points to explore and draft a Statement of Principles.
The Statement could inform thinking and policy about how Australia’s education ecosystem needs to adapt to accommodate industry needs into the future, promote social cohesion and enable citizens across the lifespan – regardless of their place or starting point – to find and create work.

Next Steps


1st Education & Employability Round-Table

The inaugural Round-Table on Education and Employability was held on 19 November 2019 in Sydney. Invited were higher education providers, the professions, industry, govt. regulators and related organisations. The initial focus was on exploring a common goal of the initiative in the context of the future of education, employability and work in Australia’s “Industry 4.0“. Inspired work by the Round-Table participants ably facilitated by Em. Prof Beverley Oliver and Prof Sally Kift resulted in this Joint Statement of Intent:

“We in Education and Industry undertake to work together to create and drive an Integrated Continuous Learning Strategy to achieve a fair and prosperous Australia.”

The next steps that were agreed are to promulgate and validate this Joint Statement more widely. Stakeholder Consultation Sessions in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Perth are envisaged.

Call 1300 664 587 or contact CEO@Professions.org.au to find out more!

History

This initiative originated in 2018 in discussions of concerned educators, professionals and industry representatives involved with Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) regarding effectively implementing approaches and strategies that integrate theory with the practice of work within a purposefully designed curriculum. The overall aim was to improve the employability of graduates by giving them practical experience which is directly related to the courses they study.

In 2015, a National Strategy on Work-Integrated Learning had been published to increase opportunities to participate in WIL, recognising the benefits to students, employers, universities and the economy.

It was felt that it would be useful to bring together national thought leaders from industry, professional associations and the higher education sector to identify current and future workplace needs.  This conversation might be able to provide industry leadership and inform policy and regulatory settings to ensure the quality delivery of education to “Industry 4.o”.


Relevant Background Materials
Future Skills Report (AlphaBeta)
Australian Jobs 2019 (Dept. of Jobs and Small Business)
Skilling – A National Imperative (AIG)
Making Micro-Credentials Work (DeakinCo)
The Best Chance for All – Student Equity 2030 (NCSEHE)
AQF Review 2019 – Final Report (Dept. of Education)
‘Enabling Excellence through Equity’ Conference 2019

2019-20 Strategic Plan

Our Strategic Plan for 2019-20 was released today.

The development process had started with the 2019 Strategic Review and Planning day on 25 June 2019 in Melbourne. Members were invited to participate and two facilitators assisted the review and planning process.

In summary, our overall Purpose, Vision and Mission were re-confirmed with the goal of becoming “the Meeting Place” for Thought Leaders on all things Professional.

Stategic Plan 2019-20 Overview

A Strategic Review and Refresh Day is planned for March 2020.

AQF Review Submission

Our 2018 AQF Review Terms of Reference Session is was followed‐up in early 2019 with our active participation in the “Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Review” lead by Prof. Peter Noonan who also keynoted at our inaugural National Summit on Micro‐Credentialing and Accreditation in Melbourne. We supported a targeted Review Session for Professional Associations, submitted formal recommendations on behalf of our Member Associations and enabled our Member Associations to directly converse about our Submission with the AQF Review Panel.

Micro-Credentials Round-Tables

The Australian Council of Profession’s inaugural series of Community of Practice Round-Table meetings continue the discussions and discourse that began at the Micro-Credentials National Summit in March 2019.

The intent of these Round-Tables is:

  • to investigate how Professional Associations can develop relevant standards and accreditation practices that best support the implementation of micro-credentialing within CPD/CPE offerings, both in formal and non-formal award settings.
  • to explore the ways in which Professional Association CPD/CPE offerings can be linked to Professional Practice credentialing to address:
    – Life-long career learning
    – Active engagement in the Professional Association community
    – Drive membership opportunities

Current definitions of the various micro-credentialing models are both confusing and varied. The way learning and training is recognized, accredited and validated is also changing with intrinsic on-the-job skills and best practices providing the most value and benefit to association members.

How can Professional Associations assist in developing a common language to best underpin this new educational landscape? How can we clearly define the differences between badging for learning and credentialing skills capability capture?

Professional Associations face a common challenge — how to remain relevant and expand their footprint in their particular domain. Success depends on the ability to create value for their brand. This free Round-Table is your opportunity to work with your peers within the Australian Council of Professions to determine how best to provide accreditation oversight of how Professional Practice credentials can help Associations address these common challenges.

Who should attend:
– Leaders of Professional Associations
– Directors of Professional Standards
– Heads of CPD/CPE Programmes

What you will take away from the Round-Table:

  • The common language that needs to be adopted to better understand the various models of micro-credentialing.
  • The types of Standards need to be developed around Micro-Credentialing
  • The Accreditation Practices that should underpin Micro-Credentialing


The generous support of the Australian Computer Society is gratefully acknowledged!

Annual General Meeting

Our AGM was held on 30 May 2019 in Sydney, hosted by our Member Association the Australian Computer Society.

Here is a summary of the Report given to the Member Associations present:

The Australian Council of Professions is a not-for-profit organisation comprised of professional associations and organisations that share the vision of building and maintaining community confidence in the Professions and their Professionals.
The 2018 reporting year had resourcing challenges, however we continued to deliver the thought leadership and benefits that our Member Associations expect from us. We were assisted by a permanent and an interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a part-time Head of Portfolio Committee as well as volunteers who provided valuable contributions to our organisation. A number of Members provided additional support through the provision of in-kind services. We see this as a sign of their strong commitment to assist us in delivering the Vision, Mission/Purpose and Objects of our organisation.

In particular, our Member Associations told us that the following activities have made us a respected thought leader and even stronger advocate of the Professions, Professionals and Professionalism:

At the conclusion of our reporting year ending 31 December 2018, our organisation has consolidated its unique role as the national alliance of Associations promoting professional standards, practice and ethics. We are now acknowledged by the community, industry and government as the thought-leader championing and advancing professional practice and ethics in the interest of the Professions, Professionals and Professionalism in Australia.
We continue to be in a financially sound position and have progressed well along our strategic path towards being more self-sustaining.

At the AGM, the following three Directors were elected:
– Catherine Garvey CHIM MAICD (re-elected)
– Dr Simon Eassom
– Craig Horne MACS(Snr) IP3P GAICD

If you would like more information, please contact us on 1300 664 587 or CEO@Professions.org.au.

Micro-Credentials Summit 7&8 March

The inaugural National Micro‐Credentials Accreditation
Summit on 7&8 March in Melbourne was a run‐away success with over 270 registrations. We had to extend the event to two days and change the venue twice to accommodate the interest in the Summit!

After an inspiring Welcome to Country our keynoters Marcus O’Donnell (Pro‐Vice‐Chancellor Education, Deakin University), The Hon Trish White (National President and Chair, Engineers Australia), Prof Susan Elliott AM (DVC Education, Monash University), Prof Peter Noonan (AQF Review and VU), Anthony McClaran (CEO, TEQSA), Dr Simon Eassom (Executive General Manager Education, CPA Australia), Glenn Campbell (Executive Director, DeakinCo), etc. highlighted the various opportunities, aspects and challenges that Micro‐Credentials bring.

Overall, the speakers and participants agreed that Micro‐Credentials are well and truly upon us with all university speakers confirming that their programs to create and deliver Micro‐Credential units are well advanced or have already commenced. However, the issues of how Micro‐Credentials are evaluated and accredited as well as if they will eventually replace the traditional undergraduate degrees are still quite unclear and need more deliberations ‐ see the Summit Communiqué below. These questions will be explored in the two Round‐Tables in Sydney and Melbourne!

In another first, five of our Member Associations awarded CPD/CPE points to participants.

A very special Thank You to Dr Ash Jones and the team at DeakinCo for their generous support!

Accreditation Systems Review (ASR)

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2016 commissioned an Independent Review of Accreditation Systems (ASR) to explore and address concerns about cost, transparency, duplication and prescriptive approaches to accreditation functions. The final report was considered by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) and publicly released in October 2018. We were invited to comment and submitted extensive comments from our Members in February 2019.