Page 2597 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 October 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
INSTITUTE OF TECHNICAL AND FURTHER EDUCATION
Annual Report for 1991
Debate resumed from 9 September 1992, on motion by Mr De Domenico:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MR CORNWELL (11.43): As the overview of the 1991 annual report of the ACT Institute of Technical and Further Education states, the ACT TAFE had more than 18,000 course enrolments and nearly 1,000 full-time equivalent staff in 1991. It is the largest post-compulsory education provider in the ACT, providing some 300 courses. Unfortunately, through no fault of its authors, the 1991 annual report has a curiously out-of-date flavour to it. I believe that that is because it predates the Finn, Mayer and Carmichael reports - the challenging trio that, I think it is fair to say, have convulsed Australia's technical and further education establishments, their supporters, their employees and their administrators, including politicians, for most of 1992 to date; and I have no doubt that they will continue to do so until the end of this calendar year.
It is rather unfair that TAFE's 1991 report should have suffered this eclipse, because it identifies a quiet but steady progress that is more the norm, I suggest, than the massive changes recommended by the trio mentioned earlier. For example, the consolidation of campuses best illustrates the point I am making, with our friend the Battlestar Galactica down there in Callum Street, Woden, vacated, and the move of TAFE to the old Woden Valley High School site, now renamed the Southside campus; the closure of the old Narrabundah campus, which is now virtually vacated; and the proposal that the Belconnen campus be closed and moved back to the Bruce campus at the end of 1992. These are matters that can be confirmed by reading the recent Estimates Committee hearing transcript.
The 1991 annual report records that the Commonwealth funded an additional 500 places for 1992. No doubt this was translated immediately into jobs by this ACT Labor Government, as desperate, I would suggest, in 1991 as they are now in 1992 to try to make a silk purse of employment out of a sow's ear of training. One notes also the quite sobering statistic at page 11 of the report that an estimated 5,000 prospective students were expected to miss out on places in 1992. In the event, only 4,000 of the 5,000 were unsuccessful; but it is still an appalling figure. It was partly the result of a 10 per cent reduction in places due to a significant increase in full-time students. That in itself is an indication of the recognition of the need and of the desperation to obtain training by those seeking qualifications in "the recession we had to have", to quote Mr Keating.
As I said earlier, the 1991 annual report predates the Finn, Mayer and Carmichael reports and their influence on the future of post-secondary education and training. Since then, Commonwealth funding has begun to flow, until in 1992-93 we are flooded with additional financial resources. We have $1.495m under the Australian National Training Authority, which unfortunately has now moved to Queensland, but that is another matter; we have over $1m for the entry level training program; we have $135,000 in adult literacy funding; and we have $165,000 for Aboriginal education. These are all additional financial resources from the Commonwealth. In addition, the ACT Government has added its increased contribution, including $513,000 for additional school leavers and $184,000 for the full year effect of the Year 13 buy-out.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .