Newsletter: 4 June 2007

• New Chair elected to the Board of TAFE Directors Australia
• Friday’s Training Ministers’ Meeting - Governance Key Federal Agenda
• Immigration Guide on Student Visa Changes

New Chair elected to the Board of TAFE Directors Australia

Queensland’s Deb Daly, Director of Gold Coast Institute of TAFE, has been elected the new Chair of TAFE Directors Australia.

Deb was elected unopposed following the 2007 AGM of TDA held in Sydney.

She succeeded TAFE NSW director Barry Peddle, one of the founding directors of TDA. Barry stood down form the position of Chair, and Member of the Board, while on leave from TAFE NSW to manage an international project for his South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE.

Deb has been a long-standing Member of the TDA Board, and remains one of two directors representing Queensland.

Gold Coast Institute of TAFE is one of three Queensland TAFE Institutes currently undergoing review of governance – a key issue following reviews conducted in NSW and Queensland, and COAG.

Deb said she was excited about the challenges facing TAFE across Australia, and hoped to be well positioned to contribute to assisting TDA Member institutes with change management and growth issues currently a priority across TAFE.

Link here to a background on the Gold Coast Institute of TAFE.

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Friday’s Training Ministers’ Meeting - Governance Key Federal Agenda

The Minster for Vocational and Further Education, the Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP, said the scheduled meeting of National Training Ministers on Friday 8 June will be a critical time to push state and territory colleagues on TAFE governance and funding.

Minister Robb made the comments on his likely agenda, when addressing the Minerals Council last week.

The Minister said a further area of reform would be overturning the system of TAFE funding, based on hours, and instead approach a university model for reform.

TDA responded that it favoured devolution on governance for TAFE, and recommended the updating of funding formulae, yet advocated that the full components of university funding would be required, including capital grants, if the new model was approached.

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Immigration Guide on Student Visa Changes

Australia’s General Skilled Migration (GSM) program will see changes which take effect from 1 September 2007.

DEST and DIAC will be holding information sessions around Australia outlining the detail of changes to the GSM program and invite TAFE executives to these sessions.  

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