TAFE
All’ s well for dream facility
New Sunshine Coast health and well-being precinct ready to serve the region. By Leeza Boyce
28 | Issue 8 2013
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. TE Lawrence The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
When the federal government announced funding of $ 46.8 million to enable the $ 63 million Sunshine Coast Health and Social Wellbeing Learning Precinct at Kawana to proceed, the dream to develop a modern TAFE facility adjacent to Sunshine Coast University Hospital( SCUH) became a reality.
The precinct is a contemporary example of the infrastructure described in the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce Report and is designed with the region’ s future in mind. Each year, about 10,000 patients travel to Brisbane for complex treatment. SCUH and the new TAFE campus at Kawana will provide the facility, skills and staff so this travel is no longer required.
SCUH will be a tertiary teaching hospital offering a range of new and expanded healthcare services. It is scheduled to open in 2016 with 450 beds, is expected to grow to 738 beds by 2021, and can reach more than 900 beds if needed. SCUH will also include the Skills, Academic and Research
Centre. SARC will deliver training programs for existing health professionals and hands-on clinical experience for students training to become health professionals. It will also assist health professionals undertaking postgraduate training and innovative clinical research. It will be delivered in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service, Sunshine Coast University and Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE. SARC is part of the institute’ s vision to become a recognised leader of skills training and research in Australia.
Sunshine Coast TAFE has been looking for an opportunity to establish a presence to service the rapidly growing area on the southern end of the coast for some time. That presence will help train the extra 241,000 workers the Community Services and Health Industry will need in the future.
The health and well-being precinct is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us as educators to make a difference to Australians. It won’ t just be TAFE occupying the site; key partners will also be in the 10,000-square-metre facility, adding a new dimension to our institute’ s customer value.
This kind of adaptive leadership is not new to Sunshine Coast TAFE. For a relatively small institute, we have made a big impact on the Queensland and Australia VET scene.
In looking for challenges and new frontiers, our institute has also established a reputation for its work in the Pacific. Australia Pacific