Divestment of TAFE NSW assets to recycle funds into better teaching resources is part of the plan to give the institute its largest overhaul in half a century.
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NSW Minster for Skills John Barliaro expressed optimism for the future of TAFE NSW following last week’s announcement of the public institute’s coming reforms.
“We have said clearly, where there is a TAFE today, there will be TAFE in the future,” Mr Barilaro said.
“TAFE is not leaving town.”
He said changes within TAFE were designed to fund and retain quality teaching, and restructure management to give more control within campuses.
Mr Barliaro said TAFE NSW had conducted a thorough inventory of assets, with an outcome reflecting 25 per cent of unused institute assets.
“TAFE has about 2000 pieces of assets, from blocks of land to unused buildings and a range of other assets that aren’t even fit for purpose training,” he said.
Where there is a TAFE today, there will be TAFE in the future.
- NSW Minister for Skills John Barilaro
“There are impacts of this. We are holding these assets, and they take money to maintain,and therefore that is money taking away from resources from teaching resources, and from placement of students in TAFE.
“Second impact, if we want to accelerate the investment we have, fantastic new teaching and learning environments, new facilities, underpinned by great technology, the only way we can do that internally by recycling and the sale of some of these assets.”
Mr Barilaro said every dollar divested will be re-invested into TAFE.
Further to streamlining the institute, Mr Barilaro said a new TAFE NSW board has also been put in place to streamline institute operation, reduce the top-heavy past to a resource-rich future to allow people to do they jobs for which they were hired.
He said within the 10 state TAFE institutes, operational costs have grown exponentially since 1998, from 18 cents on the dollar to 40-60 cents.
“I think we’ve got a problem,” Mr Barilaro said. “No organisation can run with those overheads.”
He said TAFE had acknowledged the costs and would provide an assets management plan within weeks to move forward with the institute’s transformation. TAFE teachers, staff and stakeholders will review the draft reform plan when it is created within the next 12-18 months.
Michèle Jedlicka
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