Schools across South Gippsland will receive the same number of school crossing supervisors as last year with Deputy Premier and Member for Gippsland South Peter Ryan today announcing funding for nine school crossing supervisors had been secured.  Read More

Sale Secondary College and St Joseph’s School Korumburra will share in more than $41 million to help students who are falling behind improve their literacy and numeracy, Deputy Premier and Member for Gippsland South Peter Ryan said today.  Read More

Premier Denis Napthine and Minister for Higher Education and Skills Peter Hall today announced the next steps in building a responsive, financially secure vocational training sector.

Dr Napthine and Mr Hall jointly released the Independent TAFE Review Panel’s report on vocational education as well as the Victorian Coalition Government’s response – Next Steps for Refocusing Vocational Training in Victoria – Supporting a Modern Workforce.

“Victoria’s TAFE institutes play a vital part in Victoria’s training system,” Dr Napthine said.

“As part of our response, the Victorian Coalition Government will provide a further $200 million across four years to Victorian TAFEs to support innovation and structural reform.”

Deputy Premier and Member for Gippsland South Peter Ryan welcomed the commitment to the future of Advance TAFE and said the Victorian Coalition Government was supporting TAFEs to ensure they remained financially sustainable.

“TAFEs play a critical role in local communities and regional and rural TAFEs receive an extra five per cent on top of the standard training subsidy,” Mr Ryan said.

“The announcement builds on the successful reforms last year, which has already seen greater participation in courses that address skill shortages.”

Mr Ryan said the funding was designed to assist TAFE institutes to grow their presence within the broader vocational education and training industry.

“This follows the Government’s record vocational education and training Budget of $1.244 billion in 2012/13, compared to the $855 million promised by Labor in the 2010/11,” Mr Ryan said.

Mr Hall said those reforms had led to an increase in enrolments, with a total of 670,438 students in government funded enrolments across Victoria this financial year, compared with 426,905 in 2010.

“It is also particularly pleasing to see that we now have a significantly higher percentage of students enrolled in courses that lead to jobs in areas with skills shortages,” Mr Hall said.

“The Victorian Coalition Government takes very seriously its responsibility to provide a quality, value-for-money training system, married to industry and local business needs, which in turn creates economic growth and a more prosperous future for our state.

“Students deserve to know they are undertaking training courses that will ultimately lead them into jobs, while local businesses deserve to gain high-calibre and industry-ready graduates.

Media contact: Stephanie Nicholls 0437 108 870 stephanie.nicholls@parliament.vic.gov.au Read More