A number of TAFE Centres of Excellence are being progressively established. As the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations paper on them points out, they will be nationally networked to “help deliver a skilled workforce for strategically important industries to meet national challenges.” This process will fast track the establishment of up to six new TAFE Centres of Excellence under the five‑year National Skills Agreement.
The Centres aim to:
- provide national leadership in the delivery of skills, education and training
- bring together employers, unions, universities and other education and training providers to develop and implement real work and practical solutions to meet skills needs
- support industry and enrich students’ learning experience through applied research and problem-solving programs
- innovate the delivery of tertiary education, such as the development and delivery of higher apprenticeships in areas of high skills need
- disseminate best practice across the TAFE network, and
- enable organisational innovation and teaching and training excellence.
We highlighted one of the first Centres of Excellence in an earlier article: the establishment of the first TAFE Centre of Excellence at Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) in the ACT focused on Electric Vehicles. The joint ministerial release about this centre can be found here.
Another one has just joined the club: WA’s TAFE Clean Energy Skills National Centre of Excellence. According to a joint ministerial press release, the establishment of this new Centre, with funding of $70.5 million over 5 years will:
- Innovate training in clean energy technologies, including solar, wind, hydrogen, batteries and grid integration, and fast track development and delivery of higher and degree-equivalent apprenticeship pathways
- Equip students with practical skills and knowledge-based capabilities to support innovation in the clean energy sector
- Build on existing collaborations between WA TAFEs, universities and industry to co-design industry relevant training programs, facilitate applied research and strengthen entry pathways between VET and higher education
- Partner with industry to drive skill development and support participation of more Western Australians – including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and women – in clean energy jobs, and
- Network with TAFEs in other states and leverage partnerships with universities, Jobs and Skills Councils, employers and unions to build the clean energy skills base across Australia.
Others are on the way. We will highlight them as they come along.
