Ballarat schools and industry meet to strengthen bonds and future training pathways for students

But it's not just students who will benefit.

Andrew Hardiman, Department of Employment and Training pathway manager for the Central Highlands, said exposing students to industry and the workforce earlier also helped business identify future talent.

About 60 school and industry representatives heard presentations from Regional Development Victoria, Highlands LLEN and Committee for Ballarat in a partnership with the education department to explore how schools and businesses can work more closely to support applied and vocational learning. "We can have increased training from TAFE providers and schools, but we also need to increase the work exposure and experience from industry," Mr Hardiman said.

Schools and industry worked together to come up with solutions to some of the challenges in building stronger ties, and Mr Hardiman said the event - the first to be held face-to-face in Victoria - would likely take place twice a year with action groups working between meetings to develop and implement strategies.

"Given businesses are not getting the international workforce now, they do rely on young talent and the future workforce ... and there's a reliance on enterprise to keep students engaged in school, putting a real-world perspective on why they learn what they do," he said.

While there are challenges in bringing students in to businesses, Mr Hardiman said one of the starting points suggested in the meeting was getting the message of workplace need and work experience in to schools through digital means.

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"It could be videos of what happens in the workplace, sharing problems and challenges that the workplace face for students to work on in school and to see what life in the workplace looks like.

"It could be taking the vision and challenges that workplaces face back to school rather than just taking students out of school in to the workplace.

"There's some research to show that projects and ideas that come from students in response to some of those challenges not only help with solutions but help identify future talent aligned to their business."

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