The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institutions that existed in the period of the 1970s until the early 1990s. They were similar to Australian Universities of the period, but were state owned and closely controlled instead of federally funded and independent. Many issued their own degrees, but these tended to be less prestigious than those from "universities" and more vocational rather than academic in character. They offered shorter courses, such as certificates and diplomas in addition to degrees.

They were known by a number of different titles:

• "Colleges of Advanced Education" were generally ex-"Teachers College" that slowly diversified their course offerings after their name (and often concurrent structure) changes. These changes happened at a time when more teachers were being trained than the local market could support.
• "Institutes of Technology" were vocational educationally oriented and offered a range of courses up to higher education level.
• Other names, often with the title "college" or "institute" were also used.

This sector ceased to exist when the Hawke-Keating governments decided to expand university funding. The states, eager to get this funding, merged CAEs either with existing universities or with each other to form new ones. Details of these mergers is available in an AVCC report.

In each state, the most prestigious university that was founded on a core of Institutes of Technology became a founding member of the Australian Technology Network.

See also

• Category:Universities in Australia
• Institute of technology
• Technical and Further Education

External links

• AVCC report detailing what happened to each CAE

Australian tertiary institutions