New Canberra Institute of Technology Building

One of Canberra Institute of Technology's new TV studios.
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY, 21 August 2025

Yesterday I had a tour of Canberra Institute of Technology's (CIT) new building in Canberra.  I studied Audio-Visual Video (for training) at what was then the ACT TAFE in 1989 (my last assignment was "Bicycles"). I enrolled again in 2013, at what was then called CIT, for a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. When I studied video, we used magnetic tape and monochrome studio cameras, so It was a revelation to see the new building. CIT will be showcasing the building and its courses, Thursday 11 September (book online). 

CIT in Woden, 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY, 21 August 2025

CIT's new building is similar in feeling to Ngee Ann and Temasek Polytechnics in Singapore, which I toured in 2024. There are no lecture theatres, as found in old style institutions. There are some general purpose classrooms, but much of the space is used for specialist teaching rooms. Some of the specialist rooms look like a classroom but with  equipment added for each student to use. Other spaces look like the workplaces the students plan to work in. The chefs learn in a state of the art kitchen (all electric: no gas). The bar staff learn in a bar, restaurant staff in a restaurant, musicians in a recording studio, hairdressers in a salon and video producers in a TV studio. 

Recycling bins at CIT. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY, 21 August 2025

The CIT building has one large multipurpose space, which can be used for large scale teaching, events, and musical performances. The spaces between the specialist areas are given over to places where students can sit together to study and work on projects. The building is unusually quiet, in part due to the acoustic panels on walls and lack of a false ceiling. There is the most complicated set of recycling bins I have ever seen: do they really need bins for X-ray and file alarm recycling? ;-) 

There is technology woven into the fabric of the CIT building, but not in an obtrusive way. The classrooms are equipped with the usual digital displays, cameras and video conferencing. But so are booths for small groups of students in the common areas. The large multipurpose space has a huge projection screen which can be lowered to cover one wall. Less obvious are remote control cameras around the room. Throughout the building there are CoWs (Computers on Wheels), which can be positioned to turn anywhere into a learning space.

Lego Cyber Range at CIT Woden, 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY, 21 August 2025

The cybersecurity teaching area has an unusual cyber range. This is a simulation of the Internet used for practicing detecting and defeating hacking attacks. The cyber range's network is isolated from the public Internet so that no harm is accidently caused to real systems. A cyber range is usually a very abstract place, only existing online. CIT have made an effort to make it more real with a large Lego City layout, depicting part of Canberra. Students can see the effect a cyber attack has on the Lego light rail, public buildings, and airport.

Universities are currently going through a painful process working out what their role is and how they can fund their activities. The vocational education and training (VET) sector doesn't have this problem, as their role is clear and they have always had difficulties with funding. There are some challenging questions for CIT and similar large VET institutions: will universities cooperate with them and leave a role for them, or should they offer their own degrees? Students in the past would undertake a diploma or advanced diploma in VET, and then seek credit towards a university degree. However, universities are now seeking to provide more short and flexible training, encroaching on VET territory. Should VET institutions respond by offering their own vocational degrees?

WIL Based Industry Pograms?

University of Canberra staff are talking about how they are Reimagining Plancent Project for health students at the Will Australia's "Creative, Modern and Celebrating WIL" workshop. This got me thinking, companies which require large numbers of staff might move the WIL in house, structuring a Vocation Degree around it.Companies which already offer to arrange WIL for universities could likewise now offer their own degrees. One field mentioned which could be a large market for this is NDIS services. While some of the services funded by the NDIS are provided by heavily regulated health professionals, many are not. These other areas could benefit from better education standards for staff, which could be provided via WIL.

Redefining the Australian Degree

Greetings from the Professional Standards Board of the Australian Computer Society (ACS), meeting in Adelaide. I jokingly told some academic colleagues that I was at a meeting to redesign the Australian degree. This is a slight exaggeration. Professional bodies, such as ACS, set accreditation standards. Universities and other educational bodies can choose to be accredited, but to do so must meet the requirements. As a result what professional standards are set influences what is in degrees. A current, and ongoing issue, is the balance between practical skills for immediate use, and what will be needed over a career. Another is how to improve, and formally recognise, learning which takes place outside the institution. 

Some other issues are AI Adoption, and Digital Skills (such as DigComp 2.0). Also hanging over everything is cyber security.

ps: In terms of how moden meetings are run, while all the broad are physically present, we still have video conferencing running, for some staff giving presentations from offices in other cities. Even though I am in the room, I found it useful to join the video conference (with no sound), so I can see presentations up close on my laptop. 

With Vocational Degrees is there Much Left for Universities to Do?

Vocational Degrees were added to the Australian Qualifications Framework on 17 February 2025. These are at the same level as a university bachelor's degree (AQF Level 7), but deliver by Vocational Education institutions and with an emphasis on work skills, including those gained via an apprenticeship.  It is not clear if this signals a Dedawkinsation of Australian higher education. In 2024 I visited two of Singapore's Polytechnics and was impressed with their work. 

In my discipline of computing it would be difficult to see the difference with a vocational degree. Students are required to do practical training, through a project, group work or internship, for their qualification to be accredited, regardless of what type of institution is delivering it.

In the late 1980s Education Minister John Dawkins reformed Australian higher education. This "Dawkins Revolution" resulted in degree awarding colleges merging and becoming universities. Having VET sector institutions awarding degrees could be seen as a partial undoing of this revolution, although they will not have the autonomy universities have to define their own degrees.

Australian universities only need a few students undertaking undergraduate training oriented to research in order to provide candidates for advanced research in academia and industry. The majority of undergraduates are undertaking vocational training for a job. If the VET sector can now provide Vocational Degrees for these students, will university education need to be scaled back?

Vocational degrees are being introduced at the same time AI is developing. New degrees could be AI enabled, providing each student with a synthetic personal tutor.

ps: I happened to bump into John Dawkins a few years ago at the ANU campus and was delighted to be able to point out the new buildings to him.