Enterprise RTOs in Australia: An overview from research data
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy , Walker, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AVETRA, Sydney, 8th-10th April, 2015
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on overview data from a national research project funded through the Australian Research Council Linkage program. The research question for the project as a whole was 'How do qualifications delivered by enterprises contribute to improved skill levels and other benefits for companies, workers and the nation?' The research was carried out with the support of the Enterprise RTO Association. Enterprise registered training organisations (RTOs) are companies that are accredited to deliver qualifications to their own workers. These 250 RTOs have to meet the same registration and quality standards as institutional training providers. The project as a whole included qualitative and quantitative components. It included longitudinal case studies in eight enterprise RTOs. This paper reports on part of the quantitative research. It presents findings and preliminary analysis of two surveys of enterprise RTOs (2012 and 2014), and a 2013 learner survey undertaken in the case study RTOs. The enterprise RTO surveys included a range of questions about the enterprise itself, and about the RTO's qualifications, learners, and training methods. The learner survey asked respondents about their views about training and outcomes. The response rates for the surveys were 35.7 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, with a representative distribution across industry areas. The paper provides a snapshot of the operations of enterprise RTOs and the views of those gaining qualifications in this context. Published abstract.
Management practices and innovation capacity in enterprises
- Authors: Smith, Andy , Courvisanos, Jerry , McEachern, Steven , Tuck, Jacqueline
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at AVETRA, Research in VET: Janus- Reflecting back, projecting forward Vol. 2011, p. 1-14
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on a project which seeks to identify the role of human capital formation in promoting innovation in Australian enterprises and the ways in which enterprises can improve their human resource management and learning and development practices to improve their innovation performance. There are a number of factors that affect enterprises' ability to innovate. These include internal factors such as the ability to detect technological changes in the environment, the development of core competencies from which innovation can develop and external factors such as the maturity of the market which the enterprise serves and the impact of government policy to stimulate innovation. A range of studies have suggested that human factors within the enterprise are critical to innovation. However, these studies have not established exactly what practices enterprises need to put in place to improve their 'innovation capacity'. This paper reports the results from the research. The research method involved a survey of over 2,500 business enterprises and seven case studies drawn from the manufacturing, [information and communication technology] ICT and finance industries. The paper will discuss the major findings from the research.
- Description: 2003008977