The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard today announced an injection of $500 million into public skills and training infrastructure to secure economic activity, address the sharpest impacts of the economic downturn and increase the capacity of the training sector over the longer-term to meet 21st century skills needs.
The Teaching and Learning Capital Fund for Vocational Education and Training is part of a $4.7 billion nation-building infrastructure package announced by the Prime Minister today to support Australia’s economy in tough times.
The $500 million will be distributed through two streams focused on modernising and improving the quality of teaching and learning across the vocational education and training sector.
Positioning TAFE infrastructure for tomorrow’s challenges - $400 million
All TAFEs across Australia will be eligible to receive a grant of up to $8 million to help them address immediate maintenance needs, small capital works and equipment and plant purchase.
Individual TAFE institutes will be expected to provide expressions of interest supported by State and Territory Governments to outline how the funding will be directed to address maintenance backlogs, which are inhibiting capacity and the ability to provide state-of-the-art training.
TAFE institutes will also be able to apply for competitive grants of up to $10 million to:
- Adjust to the emerging training needs of the local economies in which they operate; and
- Boost the visibility and capacity of the training system to address industry’s emerging green skills requirements.
Public training providers, along with consortia that could include Industry, private training providers and community education providers will develop proposals to enable Australia to meet emerging skills needs.
Projects will need to outline how capital works and provision of technology and equipment would enable the TAFE institution, together with industry partners, to:
- re-skill and up-skill workers in regions undergoing industry based or regionally based structural adjustment;
- enhance industry-TAFE partnerships for the critical area of green skills training in building and construction other sectors
Funding in this process will be prioritised according to criteria including social and economic indicators for the region and the delivery of training to selected industries with significant potential to improve environmental impact. Industry collaboration and co-investment will be encouraged.
Investing in Community Education - $100 million
Adult and Community Education providers are not for profit organisations that work at the community level to deliver high quality, low cost training.
Providers will be able to apply for small grants of up to $100,000 to assist with maintenance or the purchase of equipment and for larger grants of up to $1 million for major upgrades.
This investment will assist in boosting the capacity of this sector to deliver relevant training to individuals who are taking steps to improve their employability, literacy and numeracy and job skills.
The Government is committed to lifting workforce participation and productivity in Australia — allowing the Australian economy to continue to expand and deliver prosperity to future generations of Australians.
These investments will revitalise TAFE institutes and community education providers to give Australians the depth and breadth of skills they need for a 21st century economy.