TDA seals historic skills partnership between Australia and China

TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) and the Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education (CIVTE)

have signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish an Australia China Centre for

Skills Excellence. The Centre will seek partnerships with Chinese and Australian industry to research

skills training and innovation in technical and vocational education in China.

The MoU was signed by the Chair of the TDA Board of Directors, Mr Stephen Conway and the Vice

Director-General of CIVTE Ms Gao Ying in Shanghai on Friday.

See media release and this week's newsletter for more information

Report into demand driven university funding system positive for TAFE

TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) has welcomed the findings of the Kemp-Norton Review to overhaul

Australia’s demand-driven university funding system and create more choice for students.

The review recommended the full extension of Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) funding

to all non-university higher education providers including TAFEs. Higher education courses are now

offered across 23 TAFEs, with 103 courses including three Masters programs.

Read more in this week's newsletter

TDA argues for quality, funding and equity in parliamentary TAFE inquiry

TAFE Directors Australia has argued for an overhaul of the regulation and funding of vocational education

and training (VET) to overcome quality and operational issues associated with poor quality providers.

In a response to the House of Representatives inquiry into the role of TAFE and its operations, TDA argues for:

• A risk framework for VET that recognises high quality, ‘low risk’ TAFE and registered training organisations (RTOs) to address concerns about poor and sometimes unethical conduct in parts of the VET  sector - as identified by ASQA including marketing ‘rorts’ - and also the issue of visa streamlining for TAFE impacting on international students enrolments;
• New rules that allocate Australia’s $9 billion a year VET tertiary funding to accredited ‘low risk’ providers only, including TAFE;
• Providing access to Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) funding for higher education students in TAFE Institutes and other non-university providers registered as higher education providers.

Read more and see TDA's response in this week's newsletter

World Federation sets strategic plan for next five years

The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) Board of Directors met in Washington DC in the first week of April.

Representatives attended from the national associations of colleges, institutes and polytechnics of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The day-long meeting included a Board meeting followed by a retreat where Directors defined WFCP’s strategic plan for the next five years. The Board also continued to plan the upcoming WFCP World Congress to be held from in Beijing, October 24–26.

Read more in this week's newsletter

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