Listen to leading experts, including Tom Karmel, discuss Reimaging the Tertiary Education System on the NCVER official podcast Vocational Voices, S8, Episode 2. July 2023
This article was written by Tom Karmel and Bruce Mackenzie and was published in The Australian on 13 September 2023.
This article by John Ross was published in the Times Higher Education on 30 August 2023.
This article was published in The Australian on 7 June 2023 and proposes a review of the way we think about tertiary education. Tom Karmel, June 2023.
This article was released in June 2021 in response to the Productivity Commission's Review of the National Agreement for Skills Workforce and Development.
Productivity Commission misses an opportunity to shake up VET PDF - 121kb
Author: Bruce Mackenzie, Mackenzie Research Institute
MEDIA RELEASE
3 March 2021
New head for Mackenzie Research Institute
Victorian vocational sector pioneer Bruce Mackenzie is handing the reins of Mackenzie Research Institute (MRI) to Tom Karmel AM, who has been appointed Director of MRI from 1 March.
Dr Karmel, an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide’s Future of Skills and Employment Research Centre, has been a member of the MRI Advisory Board since its inception in 2019.
MRI aims to stimulate discussion and debate, and undertake independent research into policy and practice in the Vocational and Higher Education sectors. It was founded by Holmesglen Institute which appointed Bruce Mackenzie, the former chief executive of Holmesglen Institute, as the inaugural Director.
Of his new role with MRI, Dr Karmel said:
‘I am thrilled to lead the research initiatives at MRI at a time when the education and training sectors and the labour market are facing the huge challenges that have accompanied COVID.’
Dr Karmel has a PhD in Economics from the Australian National University and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
He is also a member of the editorial board of the Australian Journal of Education and the Journal of Education and Training.
In January 2017, Dr Karmel was made a Member of the Order of Australia, for “significant service to vocational education research and administration, and to the community through public administration roles”.
Bruce Mackenzie will remain on the MRI Advisory Board.
This article was released in March 2021 in response to the Review into Vocational and Applied Learning Pathways in Senior Secondary Schooling by John Firth and the Skills for Victoria’s Growing Economy Review by Jenny Macklin.
Labor Review of VET puts vital changes in too hard basket (PDF-120kb)
This article was published in the Pearls and Irritations Public Policy online Journal on 7 October 2020 and the TAFE Directors Australia newsletter on 12 October 2020.
Download - The pandemic, unemployment and a forgotten group of students (PDF-80kb)
This article was published in the Michael West Media online Journal on 14 October 2020.
Download - Privatised VET, Coalition’s wage schemes no fix for Australia’s skills chasm (PDF-121kb)
This article was published in The Age on 22 July 2020. It raises issues about the variability in terms of the volume of learning associated with Certificate II qualifications.
Download Hotel quarantine: poor quality training and another disaster ( PDF - 100kb)
This article was published in the Michael West online newspaper on 30 May 2020.