TDA URGES RETHINK ON ROLE OF TAFE IN SKILLS AND INNOVATION

TAFE Directors Australia has lodged submissions to two of the Australian Government's key inquiries examining skills development and innovation.

TDA advocated that the 450,000 new training places should not be delayed or reliant on final agreement for states and industry co-investment, and detailed wider issues with the progress on skills reform in response to 'Skilling Australia for the Future', the Rudd Government's new training roadmap policy.

In its submission, TDA refutes any suggestion that part of the responsibility for Australia's skills shortage rests with 'unresponsive training providers'. It urges that the new approach to skills development be built in parallel with the next generation of VET reform, building on the successes achieved since 1992.

To read the TDA submission to 'Skilling Australia for the Future', click here. 

In its second major submission, TDA says that TAFE institutes across Australia have the capacity to play a greater role in developing innovative solutions, which can improve efficiency and accelerate technological transfer.

The Review of the National Innovation System was recently announced by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr.

TDA's submission says that the capacity to tap into TAFE innovation is under-utilised and that this is largely a consequence of the 'teaching-only' basis of TAFE funding. In Australia, R&D and innovation have largely been quarantined to higher education, research institutions and agencies.

The review, being chaired by Dr Terry Cutler, was provided with a copy of the interim report prepared for the recent OECD mission, which catalogues outstanding examples of innovation by TAFE institutes across Australia.

To see the submission to the innovation review, click here. 

To see the Interim Report on TAFE innovation click here.

To see the Media Release on the submissions, click here.