Page 3235 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 July 2010
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for occasional support for courses studied online; and access to careers and counselling services.
The budget also provides $250,000 to examine the feasibility of expanding learning services and options in Tuggeranong. One option might be to locate the new services of the ACT’s proposed new southside trades training centre near the Kambah P-10. This model could have an expanded range of CIT learning options similar to those proposed at the CIT Gungahlin learning centre.
The budget also invests $2 million to complete the Canberra Institute of Technology online. This will provide state of the art online services to students and give students more flexibility to study when and where they want to. Almost $8 million will be invested to complete the relocation of the CIT’s electro-technology program to the Fyshwick trades skill centre. This will provide skills to young people and skills that employers need now and into the future.
Other budget investments in the CIT include $1.2 million each year for technology and major equipment upgrades and $500,000 each year for plant and equipment; over $2.2 million each year in the next four years for capital upgrades; $150,000 as part of the better TAFE facilities national partnership; almost $1 million for the Lions youth haven at Westwood Farm; and we continue to support students with almost $1.5 million over four years going towards fee assistance in areas of skill shortage. The government is committed to building strong foundations to support a productive workforce to help drive our economy into the future.
We have listened, invested, and delivered. But as I have said, in the education and training field there should be no investment without reform. That is why I have recently released a discussion paper creating a connected tertiary education environment to reform the ACT’s tertiary and training environment.
The Bradley review has foreshadowed a new era in tertiary education, and in Canberra we have a unique opportunity to create a truly connected and integrated higher education environment which gives students what they want and what they need. The federal policy landscape is changing quickly around us. The Bradley review and national regulators for higher and vocational education, combined with new skills shortages, mean we have an opportunity now.
We need new and bold ideas to make Canberra Australia’s lifelong learning capital. This is a unique opportunity for the territory. On the supply side, our skills shortages and federal targets for degrees and certificates mean we need more students to come and study in Canberra. On the demand side, we must give students what they want and what they need. If a student wants to create a new combination of courses across a range of institutions, I do not want to see funding and red tape get in the way.
We also have industry demand. We can improve how we match up workforce and labour supply with industry needs. The government recognises the opportunity before us and we will not let it slip, but we do remain genuinely open to new ideas and solutions in this area—to new models that may emerge from the discussions over the coming months.
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