Equality of Opportunity in Education and Training - Department of Education, Science and Training - Australia

The Quality, Equity & Collaboration Branch is responsible for, inter alia, higher education policy and delivers programmes to: promote quality outcomes; promote and support excellence in teaching and learning; improve equity of access for identified target groups through the Higher Education Equity Programme, the Regional Disability Liaison Officer initiative and the Additional Support for Students with Disabilities Programme; encourage universities to manage their workplace relations consistent with the government’s workplace relations policies; improve collaboration between universities, other institutions, business and the community through the Business Industry Higher Education Collaboration Council (BIHECC) and the Collaboration and Structural Reform Program (CASR). promoting excellence in teaching through the Australian Universities Teaching Committee, The Australian Awards for University Teaching and the National Teaching Forum managing the implementation of the National Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education; managing the Educational Textbook Subsidy Scheme (ETSS); administering payment of financial assistance to higher education institutions and other bodies; coordinating education policy advice following from the National Review of Nursing Education; coordinating cross-group and cross-sectoral policy and parliamentary services for Higher Education Group and manages the Group’s legislative program; and developing and maintains the Division’s operating budget and human resources strategy. providing policy input and/or Secretariat support to: the Joint Committee on Higher Education; business Industry Higher Education Collaboration Council; the Steering Committee for the National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training; ANU Board on Masters of Aboriginal Epidemiology; the Sir John Monash Foundation (and Awards); the Ministerial Council for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA); the Australian Qualifications Framework Advisory Board, on Higher Education matters; and Australian Universities Teaching Committee. .

The following activities are of interest to women:

1. Funding of research aimed at enhancing women's participation in education, training and employment. Projects have included the identification of barriers to education, training and employment for girls and boys, factors that affect post-school outcomes and women's access to information technologies.
2. The government’s funding for higher education rests on a number of central principles, including quality, diversity and equity of access. These are expressed as objects of the Higher Education Funding Act, 1988. Universities are accountable to the Parliament for ensuring that equity objectives are addressed as part of their general responsibilities for use of operating grants. The government assists universities to carry out these responsibilities by providing equity support funding which is distributed through the Higher Education Equity Programme (HEEP) each year partly on the basis of performance in achieving progress against specific indicators.

There is also an Equity Unit in the Department that is responsible for providing policy advice on issues relating to equitable participation in higher education as well as administering the Higher Education Equity Program and the Additional Support for Students with Disabilities Program.

Australian National Training Authority

This body administers Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs, which include programs targeting women and policies including equity issues. It also assists in developing a draft national strategic plan, the National Training Framework, and provides national statistical data together with evaluation and research.