CHANGES to TAFE funding announced in Tuesday’s budget represent a significant challenge for the University of Ballarat, vice-chancellor David Battersby has said.
“The additional funding that TAFE has received as a public provider of education and training is coming to an end with equivalence of funding now to be available to both public and private providers of accredited training in Victoria,” Professor Battersby said.
“The university traditionally has had top-up funding for TAFE staffing, services and infrastructure because of the significant costs imposed by the state government on the university being a public provider of training. This funding will be discontinued from 2013.”
Professor Battersby said there were also changes to the way the government would fund TAFE courses with reductions in funding being made to many programs such as business and IT.
“TAFE institutes, particularly in regional Victoria, are part of the fabric of our communities and have been built up by those communities over many decades,” he said.
“So we are very disappointed with the scale of the government’s cuts to TAFE.
“The university has now begun a detailed process to examine the implications for its TAFE provision.”
AEU Victorian branch president Mary Bluett said the government had put TAFEs, and the state’s economic future on the line.
“Investing in ... TAFEs is an investment in Victoria’s social and economic future,” Ms Bluett said.
