Learning Solutions Focused On The Region

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday June 25, 2008

Phil Cox

SIXTY-ONE of Hunter TAFE's skilled graduates were recognised last Friday at the annual Hunter Institute Awards.

Against a backdrop of increasing regional, national and international competition, we are continuing our commitment of excellence to the people, businesses and industries of our region, and the students that were recognised at the Hunter Institute Awards are a testament to this.

To ensure we are continually building on this excellence, Hunter TAFE is undergoing a rapid transformation, which will better position us to serve the region and help build sustainable and quality industries and businesses.

The "TAFE NSW: Doing Business in the 21st Century" initiative allows for increased flexibility, greater local decision-making and responsive customisation of training to address local needs, which will help in driving stronger regional development.

We will reshape our business culture and service delivery to a learner and customer-focused model through an improved range of learning solutions and services for regional, national and international markets.

Following a consultation process including advice and input from business, industry, the community and staff it is clear that TAFE NSW needed a vision that was realigned to suit the contemporary environment.

We commissioned independent research into what our own local industry and business partners thought of our training services and the results indicated we could improve our service delivery through greater flexibility, responsiveness and local customisation.

The region will now benefit from increased delivery of training in the workforce, more rapid customisation of training to address specific needs and more personalised approaches to vocational education and training.

Employers will be further involved in industry training and local arrangements will be developed to meet regional training needs so that Hunter TAFE will be better positioned to meet the dynamic workforce demands of our region.

Social inclusion will continue to play an important part of our business model with "second-chance" opportunities and addressing the needs of equity groups remaining a high priority.

Providing greater and more flexible opportunities to the under-employed of our region will not only help in regional and community capacity building, but will also provide a ready source of skilled employees to contribute to regional development.

Education is one of the most important sectors of society and the Hunter Region can be sure that vocational education and training is in the best possible position to achieve results.

These reforms will ensure that TAFE-based vocational education and training is in the strongest possible position to achieve the best results for individuals, the community and industry in the Hunter as we not only face, but openly embrace, our future.

Phil Cox is the Institute Director at Hunter TAFE.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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