Melbourne Graduate School of Education

LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Management

John served for 18 years in the House of Representatives for the Australian Labor Party and from 1983 to 1994, was a member of the Governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating as Finance Minister, Trade Minister, Employment Education and Training Minister and finally Treasurer. 

John left politics in 1994 to pursue a career in business.  A number of Australian and international companies have sought his advice on strategic issues especially relating to trade and investment.  He is frequently asked to advise international agencies such as the World Bank and the OECD.  He is also Chairman of Integrated Legal Holdings and a Director of MGM Wireless Limited and Government Relations Australia.

Pam Christie is Director of TAFE NSW – Sydney Institute, one of the largest and most respected vocational training providers in Australia. Sydney Institute was first established in 1891 as Sydney Technical College and now enrols more than 73,000 students annually.

Pam has extensive experience in the vocational education and training sector in a range of leadership roles. Pam has played a major role in shaping national and state policy directions including leading reforms in the apprenticeship and traineeship system, establishing quality and regulatory frameworks and implementing competitive funding arrangements. She is a member of the NSW Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board, TAFE Directors Australia and GROW Sydney. Pam has a keen interest in leadership and strategic relationship building. She has a strong commitment to strengthening the flexibility and responsiveness of public education and training.

Ian Young is Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University of Technology. Prior to joining Swinburne in 2003, he was Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) at the University of Adelaide. He has extensive experience across tertiary education, including both Higher Education and TAFE. His research interests are in Coastal and Ocean Engineering. He has published 3 books and more than 100 research papers in this field. He has also had extensive experience as an Engineering Consultant in Australia, the United States and Asia. He is presently Chair of IDP Education (Australia), Chair of the Victorian Vice-Chancellors Committee, a Board Member of the Business Higher Education Round Table, a Board Member of Open Universities Australia and a Board Member of the Victorian Education Research Network (VerNet). He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of Engineers Australia.

Robin Shreeve is Principal and Chief Executive of City of Westminster College that delivers a wide range of work-related and academic courses to over 8,000 students. Until July 2005 Robin was Chair of the Board of Directors of TAFE Global (Australia) Pty Ltd and the Deputy Director-General for Technical and Further Education for the State of New South Wales in Australia.

Robin had previously been Chief Executive of the North Coast Institute, a large vocational College in Australia. Robin is a graduate of the universities of York and Sheffield and has published and spoken extensively on vocational education and training issues.

Bruce Muirhead is the Founding CEO and Professor of Eidos Institute. Previously he founded UQ’s Boilerhouse Research Centre. Muirhead has more than 25 years’ experience in building partnerships between public and private sector focusing on the connections between economic, public and social innovation in the development of community capacity at local and global levels. Most recently, following the murder of an elderly Ipswich resident in 1999, Professor Muirhead’s university leadership role in the Goodna Service Integration Project, was acknowledged by the Australian Government as one of ten national projects, alongside the Sydney Olympics and the response to the Bali bombings, for creating large-scale collaboration to respond to Australia’s priority challenges.

Dr Karmel took up the position of Managing Director, National Centre for Vocational Education Research in August 2002.

Prior to this position he held senior appointments in the Federal government areas of education, employment, labour market research and the Bureau of Statistics.

His research interests have centred on the labour market and the economics of education and he has a particular interest in performance indicators both in higher education and vocational education and training.

Currently, President of the Economics Society of Australia, South Australia branch

Both a Policy Advisor on Higher Education to the President of the European Commission, and the President of the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities, Frans van Vught is an expert in higher education policy and management. He has published widely (and in several languages) on these issues and has been a consultant to many international organisations, governments and universities. Frans is a Member of the Group of Social Policy Advisors (GSPA) of the European Commission (under the leadership of EC President Barroso) and Member of the Board of the European University Association (EUA).

Julie Moss is the Managing Director, Photography Studies College (Melbourne) and is the immediate former National Chair of ACPET.  She has over twenty five years experience representing the interests of private education and training providers at the state, national and international levels in a range of capacities including her participation, over a number of years, in the judging of the Australian and Victorian Training Awards. Julie has been an ACPET member since its inception in 1991.

Most private providers are small businesses and Julie is determined to ensure the Australian, state and territory governments recognise the important contribution private providers make to education and training in this country.

Julie is a Bachelor of Arts graduate from Deakin University.  She also holds a Graduate Diploma (Arts) and an Associate Diploma in Community Development.

Gavin Moodie is principal policy adviser at Griffith University and a part time tutor in its law school.  He has worked in Australian universities for 30 years, mostly in administration.  He has published 30 refereed articles and chapters on higher education policy and is a regular correspondent for The Australian’s Higher Education Supplement.  He is a graduate in law and philosophy (honours) from the University of Melbourne and his doctorate from the University of New England was on the relations between vocational and higher education.  Gavin's book From vocational to higher education: an international perspective has recently been published by McGraw-Hill.