TAFE & Adult Provision Victorian government caps TAFE enrolments for 2020

  • By Phil Smith
  • This article was published more than 4 years ago.
  • 16 Dec 2019

The Department of Education and Training (DET) has recently informed TAFEs and dual sector universities of eight courses that are set to face enrolment limitations from next year, as the number of enrolments now outweighs the expected demand for jobs linked to those qualifications.

Each institute will be allocated a reduced share of funded places based on the department’s modelling. This reduced allocation will be proportionate to the TAFE or universities 2019 market share.

At this stage, the following courses will be affected (with asterisks indicating those currently covered by Free TAFE):

  • Certificate IV in Accounting and Bookkeeping*

  • Certificate IV in Business

  • Certificate IV in Leadership and Management

  • Certificate IV in Youth Work*

  • Certificate III in Education Support*

  • Certificate IV in Education Support*

  • Diploma of Community Services*

  • Diploma of Justice*

The AEU acknowledges the importance of ensuring students enrol in courses that will likely lead to employment – and capping enrolments is one way to do this.

However, we will be watching out for situations such as those from a few years ago when enrolments in some early childhood education courses were capped despite the fact that too many graduates had received below-par qualifications from dodgy for-profit operators. This meant that while the number of qualified workers exceeded the demand, many were simply ill-equipped to do the job.

The irony is, with the roll-out of government-funded preschool for all three-year-olds in Victoria, early childhood qualifications have now been added to the Free TAFE list – a move the union welcomes.

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