news
TAFE
chairs
see
shaky
future
Lobbying group says confidence is low
that federal government will shore up
funding and provide stable policy.
T
he head of the TAFE chairs’ lobby group is “probably not”
confident renewed funding and federal policy stability will
flow into vocational education by the end of the year.
TAFE Chairs Australia (TCA) is calling on the federal government
to guarantee renewal of the $516 million in Commonwealth
VET funding, which will expire on July 1 next year, along with
the current National Partnership Agreement (NPA). The group
is also pushing for the details of the new funding agreement to
be released by December 2016, so TAFEs around Australia have
adequate time to prepare budgets.
“We need to start preparing our budgets for the financial year
starting July 1 next year, probably as early as February,” TCA
campusreview.com.au
chair Warren Tapp explained. “If we don’t know what the funding
arrangements are, or the policy settings that we’re going to operate
in that go with that, it’s very hard for us to be able to know what we
can budget.”
TCA indicated its confidence in the Commonwealth to get its act
together is low. Tapp said the federal government would “probably
not” meet the requested deadline.
The federal VET minister, Scott Ryan, is focused on redesigning
VET FEE-HELP – which has been under intense scrutiny – but
details of the federal government’s long-term plans to fund VET
have been scarce so far.
TAFE Directors Australia chief executive Martin Riordan said
the current funding agreement should “never be repeated in
its [current] structure”. In a submitted recommendation for the
upcoming federal Budget, TDA also lobbied for stability and
guaranteed funding.
“The Commonwealth’s contribution to Australia’s VET sector
[must be] assured beyond the conclusion of the NPA, due in June
2017,” the submission read. “The current ‘black hole’ in forward
estimates totals more than half a billion dollars, illustrating major
uncertainty about commitment to VET within the tertiary education
sector. At the same time, uncertainty remains about the viability
of the Commonwealth’s tertiary loans system. Collectively, these
uncertainties are creating difficulties for industry to plan workplace
training and skilling strategies in all jurisdictions. This is even more
difficult for enterprises working across state and territory borders.” n
Howse, senior project officer for Healthy Sydney University. She
provided six initiatives to enhance the vitality of both the faculty
and the cohort.
1
Create a ‘Healthy University’ committee or group. Draw
leadership from all levels of the organisation – including
academic staff, professional staff and student