In this essay, 2020 E.G. Whitlam Fellow, Dr Alexandra Coleman, offers some policy options for consideration about how to ensure a person’s tertiary education experience and academic achievement enriches themselves, their lives and communities.

This document explores non-continuation in the UK higher education system. It demonstrates that the UK has the lowest drop-out rate of any OECD country. It also considers which students are most at risk of not completing their courses and what changes could usefully be implemented to reduce non-continuation rates further.

This paper reviews the state of school funding in Australia, bringing together research from international comparisons based on OECD data sources, Australian school-level data, international research literature, and policy documents. It explores how and why the persistent increases in school funding in Australia have failed to improve educational outcomes.

This report explores the benefits and challenges associated with work-based education that have been identified in prior research. It also sets out best practices for training providers, employers and policy makers, to support quality work-based education across the VET system.

While online education has the potential to bridge gaps in education access, it is no substitute for in-classroom teaching. This inquiry examined how education meets the learning needs of students in regional, rural and remote communities, and how barriers in education can be overcome.