Work opportunity for ACS members as Capital College joins ACS as part of the Professional Partnership Program (PPP)
10 Nov 2021
Highlights
- Are you someone who can demonstrate relevant industry experience in an ICT field?
- Are you interested in becoming a "visiting professor" where you can teach and share your knowledge and practical hands-on experience with international students?
- Do you hold a current TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and have the right to work in Australia?
A planned expansion of Capital College’s Information Technology faculty creates new opportunity for ICT trainers and assessors.
The College seek candidates who can demonstrate relevant industry experience in an ICT field. If you become a ‘visiting professor’, you will be teaching students the Diploma or Advanced Diploma of Information Technology, blending theory with your practical hands-on experience from working in a technical, support or ICT leadership role.
Successful candidates will be residents with the right to work in Australia, and hold a current TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. The training commitment can be structured as casual/part-time. The College prefers to hire ACS members committed to lifelong learning and valid credentials.
Address your CV and cover letter by email to ceo@capital.edu.au
ACS Canberra is very pleased to welcome Capital College joins us as part of the Professional Partnership Program (PPP).
ACS is pleased to be working with Capital College to support its staff and students. To supplement the students' coursework, the ACS Learning Accelerator offers curated technical professional, and vendor certification courses. These are also available to all ACS members. The ACS learning accelerator and MySFIA platform were seen as great value to assist students in building their careers.
Capital College's approach to supporting overseas students during COVID-19
Capital College is Canberra’s largest privately-owned Vocational Education and Training provider for international students—a market that’s worth more than $30 billion a year to the Australian economy.
With Australia’s border shut down for nearly two years in response to COVID-19, offshore students have flocked to the ‘open border’ countries like Canada and the UK, whose education sectors are now booming.
Here in Australia, the students who stayed onshore have faced unique challenges as lockdowns and social distancing requirements took their toll on education. Universities suspended classes, English language colleges went broke, and the work shifts students relied on for income dried up, along with their savings.
Social distancing forced education providers to invest in online learning platforms, or suspend operations. Too many provided half-baked solutions. It has therefore not been uncommon for international students to take a break from education altogether, and go onto a work visa while waiting for face-to-face classes to resume.
Students unable to find work (and deemed ineligible for benefits) have seen their savings dwindle as they’ve had to keep up their education payments or risk losing their visa. Unable to return home due to travel bans, these have been enduring poverty, uncertainty and associated mental health issues on an unprecendented scale.
Against this backdrop of upheaval, Capital College provided scholarships, extended payment plans, referral bonuses and foodbank support. Putting on daytime, evening and weekend classes gave students a flexible schedule to take advantage of any job opportunities they found. Expanding the scope of courses to match the forecast for jobs growth made the curriculum more relevant and timely.
Capital College also decided that if students couldn’t come to Australia for education, they’d take Australian education to the students.
The mini-campus concept saw offshore classrooms open with broadband Internet. Students who complained that online study was too difficult over a slow home connection were able to ‘come to class’ in these centres, sit with other local students, and learn in English in real time with students and trainers in Australia. This hybrid model is popular, with 90 percent of students attending each class. The College also used 2021 to ‘vertically integrate’ its education pathway via partnerships with an English language training centre and top-ranked universities.
Such efforts have gained recognition. Capital College was awarded this year’s ACT Chief Minister’s Export Award for excellence in international training and education, exporting to Asia, and silver in the ACT Training Awards.
Asked what the future of international education looks like, Capital College’s chancellor and chief executive, Nicholas Read, provides some thoughts.
“Australia will open and international students will return. We’ll see a tightening of governance for the migration agents that bring students here. If Australia is serious about growing talent to be globally competitive, we need to attract serious scholars and avoid even the hint of being a ‘visa mill’. This must necessarily impact how education providers are audited and scored for compliance and quality."
“Migration points will likely be used as a lever to stream students to regional cities we need to build up, and to course qualifications where future demand exceeds supply. Calculated right, Australia will grow talent in areas of energing global demand, allowing us export more than what we dig out of the ground.”
He concludes, “When it comes to skills training, online education hasn’t always had the efficacy of classroom training. Yet after the past two years I doubt anyone can put the online learning genie back in the bottle—and we shouldn’t want to."
“I expect to see innovation in online training, where knowledge chatbots, AI avatars, and virtual skills simulations will augment experienced trainers, and our delivery of the Australian Qualifications Framework in Australia and around the world will be without borders."
“We will see more workers join the gig economy, working from home offices from project to project instead of having a job for life. I see a clear shift away from monolithic courses, and a rise in microCredentials allowing people to extend their knowledge and skills on an as-needed basis. The future belongs to those who embrace the mindset of being agile and adaptable, and who future-proof their careers with ongoing education to stand out in the increasingly competitive talent market.”
Learn more about Capital College.
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