Tafes welcome hecs proposal

The Age, 30 April 2008; The Australian, 30 April 2008; The Herald Sun, 30 April 2008

Facing an apparent ‘shortfall’ of up to 123,000 skilled workers by 2015, vocational education and training leaders are calling for a HECS-style system to be implemented in the TAFE sector as a way of increasing enrolments.

The Victorian Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation, Ms Jacinta Allan, has released a discussion paper on
proposed plans to ‘increase the skills’ of Victorians without a ‘post-school qualification’.

Minister Allan said that ‘We need to put in place some reforms to our training system to encourage more people to
come in and undertake training for the first time, and to stay and upgrade their qualification.’

Australian National University economist and ‘architect’ of the current HECS system, Professor Bruce Chapman, has welcomed the plan. ‘It’s a completely sensible and very fair proposal. This proposal is consistent with the idea endorsed
at the 2020 Summit, which was the removal of all upfront fees in education, to be replaced by HECS.’

The Victorian Government is also considering an ‘overhaul’ of the way it administers vocational education and training funding. It has been suggested in The Age that the Brumby Government may increase the fees to TAFE courses that award students with higher qualifications.

Mr Angus McFarland, president of the National Union of Students, is not convinced that a HECS-style loan scheme is the best answer. ‘We have a lot of concerns about the HECS system in its current form,’ he said.

The Victorian Government is seeking public submissions to their draft paper, Securing our Future Economic Prosperity, until Friday 6 June 2008.

 

 

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