Its a new era in the way the economic dynamics are playing out in the TAFE sector. On one hand the government and private players are trying to skill up the youth, so that they are self sustainable and job ready and can plug the gap that there is between industry requirement for trades people and what is produced. On the other hands there are major TAFE cuts in the regional areas and TAFE cuts in the metro areas, which has a cascading and collateral effect. Many local businesses are dependent on the local TAFE colleges to supply them with their products as well as rely on the customer base they generate. The local youth don’t have a local place to further their skills which leads them to sometimes be stuck for ever in a low skill labouring position which may be able to pay the bills but will seldom improve the economic and skills situation for an individual. We at Heraud hope that we able to forge partnerships with some of these TAFE colleges so they can leverage off their existing skills base, add some more profits to their bottom line and hopefully be a bit more sustainable. It may not be absolutely enough to save the sector but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
