Towards open tertiary education

This paper presents some ideas and debate on the open tertiary education in Australia. A truly open system of tertiary education requires that every person has the right to embark on any educational course or enter any career they wish at any time of life. In order to fulfil this goal, what is needed is a change of the historic pattern of trying to shape the demand for education to fit the supply determined by educational and political planners, a scheme that will plan the supply of education to match the demand. If tertiary education is to be open to all, and people enabled to resume their education at any stage they wish, we need a system of educational allowances, with proper provision for dependants, available for all levels of education beyond the level which would normally be obtained by the statutory leaving age. A system of universal paid study leave would allow people to develop their interests or embark on new careers and at the same time meet the need to share the benefits of increased productivity by reducing the length of the working life. Contents: 1. Function, Ideology and Relevance (pg. 1) 2. Social Stratification and the Educated Community (pg. 10) 3. Selection and Opportunity (pg. 16) 4. Work, Education and Jobs (pg. 28) 5. Planning and Organisation (pg. 56