What does VET bring to higher education that is distinctive?

Australian higher education is in a state of flux. One sign of this flux is the entry of new providers, including those with a track record in VET. Are these providers offering similar qualifications to universities or do they bring something new and distinctive? This paper draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of distinction to argue that the entry of qualifications by new providers trouble some of the boundaries between the VET and higher education fields. VET provider degrees emerge as a new point of distinction in the higher education field, offering benefits that resonate with changes in the market for degrees. VET provider degrees potentially alter the structure of the higher education field, disturbing the established order and changing the rules of the game. Basil Bernstein’s concept of ‘message systems’ is drawn on to nuance the theory of distinction in the context of the Australian tertiary landscape. Attention is thus drawn to messages associated with teaching, curriculum and assessment in VET providers that help us to examine the action of these providers in reconfiguring distinction. The analysis presented here hints at a redefinition of what makes a degree distinctive.