Technical Report Writing in Victoria,Australia

Abstract

Formal training in technical report writing is virtually non-existent in Australia. The technical colleges in the State of Victoria are the only tertiary institutes which have provided this sort of training for their graduates. The courses provided at the Swinburne College of Technology incorporate an unusual feature, in that the classes are conducted by two lecturers; one from the appropriate technical faculty and one from the General Studies faculty, each having supervisory control over different aspects of the course, but working together in close cooperation. This system, which has now been used for about ten years, has been remarkably successful, not only in the quality of reports produced by the students, but in breaking down the barriers between the staffs of the technical faculties and the humanities lecturers.

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References

The Victoria Institute of Colleges is a coordinating body which controls the operation and development of the various forms of tertiary education in Victoria, outside the three universities and the teachers' colleges. At present fifteen colleges, each governed by an autonomous council, are affiliated with the V.I.C., which controls the allocation of federal and state government financial grants, determines the staffing establishment of each of the colleges, supervises the content and quality of the courses offered and the academic awards granted by them, and makes recommendations to the state government regarding the salaries paid to college staffs.