This week has been a busy and exciting one for aXcelerate with two of our team members, Katie and Chris, as well as our director Reay, attending the 2015 ACPET conference, which was held last Thursday and Friday (the 27th and 28th of August) in Melbourne. ACPET specialises in the education industry and each year holds a conference designed to discuss the big issues facing both Higher Education within Australia as well as the Vocational Education and Training sector. This year the theme and focus of the conference was on inspiring ideas; building a better private education and training sector through innovation, diversity and quality.

Due to the significant changes made to the education industry over the last year, this conference was a chance to focus on the technical, political and social factors transforming Australia’s tertiary education sector. The conference saw many interesting and insightful discussions with a range of guest speakers including the Hon. Christopher Pyne, Minister for Education and Training, the education editor for The Financial Review, Tim Dodd and the CEO of Vocation, Stewart Cummins.

Each speaker discussed the big questions the Education Industry is facing right now, particularly the following questions:

• How has greater competition impacted the vocational sector?

• What’s next for higher education reform?

• Where will the next wave of technical disruption come from?

• Can international education continue to be a super-industry for Australia?

• What are the opportunities and threats for providers, students, employers?

This year’s focus on innovation and looking towards the future of education was also the perfect opportunity for aXcelerate to introduce and demonstrate the workflow engine, which provides training providers and RTOs with the ability to automate numerous administrative tasks.

Overall, the conference was a success and Chris, Reay and Katie thoroughly enjoyed meeting and discussing all aspects related to the vocational sector with people as passionate about education and training as aXcelerate.

aXcelerate would like to extend a big thank you to ACPET for hosting and organising such an enjoyable and thought-provoking event and the team look forward to attending the conference in 2016.