Australian Skills Recognition of University Lecturers

The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship lists "University Lecturer" as an occupation (Number 242111) in the Australian Skills Recognition Information (ASRI) for the purposes of skilled migration. A Lecturer is described as someone who "Lectures students and conducts tutorials in one or more subjects within a prescribed course of study at a university and conducts research in a particular field of knowledge." It will be interesting to see if this description is revised, as teaching practices change. As an example, I mostly teach on-line now and ANU is phasing out tutorials and lectures for some courses.

The Lecturer occupation is allocated a skill level commensurate with a bachelor degree and/or five years of experience, the same as for a University Tutor (ANZSCO Skill Level 1). As with tutors, no particular degree program is specified and skills of applicants are assessed by Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services (VETASSESS). It is not clear if university lecturers are required to have a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40110), which is the only Education assessment VETASSESS offers. Australian universities generally request (or in some cases require) a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education, which is a higher level qualification (Level 8) than a Certificate IV (Level 4) in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). While both qualifications are described in the same framework they are not currently compatible and vocational institutions do not accept a Graduate Certificate in place of TAE40110. As an example, I have obtained an ANU GCHE for university teaching and a CIT CertIVTA for vocational teaching.

Skilled migration programs include the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS), Points Based Skilled Migration visa and Temporary Business (Long Stay) (Subclass 457).

For statistical purposes, university tutors are grouped together with lecturers (Unit Group 2421 University Lecturers and Tutors). Tasks of a lecturer or tutor are described as:

• preparing and delivering lectures, and conducting tutorials, seminars and laboratory sessions
• preparing and marking essays, assignments and examinations
• advising students on academic and related matters
• attending departmental and faculty meetings, conferences and seminars
• supervising work programs of postgraduate and honours students and tutorial staff
• participating in setting course and degree requirements, curriculum revision and academic planning
• serving on council, senate, faculty and other committees and professorial boards
• conducting research and undertaking consultancies in a particular field of knowledge
• stimulating and guiding class discussions
• compiling bibliographies of specialised materials for reading assignments

University Lecturers/Tutors and Vocational Education Teachers are part of the one statistical occupation group "Tertiary Education Teachers" (Category242). At this level the tasks are a little more general:

• preparing and delivering lectures to tertiary students in one or more subjects within a prescribed course of study

• conducting tutorials, seminars, and laboratory sessions

• preparing and marking essays, assignments and examinations

• participating in course development and in meetings on departmental, budgetary, curriculum and policy matters

• attending conferences and seminars, and conducting research into a particular field of knowledge

• providing feedback to students on progress and advising students on courses and related matters

• consulting with Education Managers, Librarians, Student Counsellors and other support staff