Ballarat is likely to receive only a handful of more than 20,000 new university, fee-free TAFE and vocational education places in areas of skill shortage to be funded in the Federal Budget.
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The 20,000 places will be split between education (4036 places), nursing (2600), health professions (2740), IT (2275) and engineering (1738) courses across the country from next year.
Australian Catholic University welcomed the allocation of an additional 716 university places to give more people from under-represented backgrounds the chance to go to university and address skill shortages, but could not confirm how many of those places would be in Ballarat.
"ACU supports the government's commitment to provide educational opportunities for students who are under-represented in tertiary education while addressing the skills need," said ACU Vice Chancellor Professor Zlatko Skrbis.
"This corresponds well to our new widening participation strategy which will be announced shortly."
Federation University said it would not be offering any extra places in 2023 in the nominated programs.
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National Skills and Training Minister Brendan O'Connor said it showed the government was addressing the skills shortage facing the nation.
"These fee-free training places will provide Australians opportunities to get trained for the jobs in demand now and in the future and deliver to business the skilled workers they need," he said.
The Federal Budget will be announced on Tuesday night.
