The Facts
The facts about TAFE funding cuts at UB
In the Victorian State budget on 1 May, the Government announced major changes to the funding of TAFE and to vocational education and training (VET) in Victoria.
| Fact 1 | On 1 January 2013, additional funding that TAFE has received as a public provider of education and training in Victoria will cease. This extra funding was for additional costs of staffing, student support services and for libraries and teaching facilities. | |||||
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| Fact 2 | On 1 July 2012, the funding of VET courses will change resulting in minor increases in government subsidies for about 20% of TAFE courses and major reductions in funding to the majority of TAFE courses offered at UB. | |||||
| Fact 3 | The State Government has decreed it will provide the highest level of subsidy to TAFE courses that it decides have the greatest public value (e.g. apprenticeships). Courses that the State government decides have the lowest public value to the Victorian economy (e.g. in business, fitness, hospitality, etc.) will receive the least amount of funding. This represents a move away from funding based on teaching cost to one based on the Government's assessment of public value. | |||||
| Fact 4 | UB has over 350 TAFE courses approved for offering. Because of changes to State government funding of TAFE UB has no option other than to cut between 50 and 60 of its TAFE courses. These courses are no longer financially viable and we know from our research that regional students cannot afford the burden of paying full fees for these courses. Current students in any courses which will cease will have the opportunity to complete their studies and graduate if they meet their course requirements. | |||||
| Fact 5 | The reduction in funding to TAFE at UB is estimated to be about $20 million. This is why we have to cut the number of TAFE courses, review our income and expenditure and reduce the number of our staff, which we hope can be achieved through normal attrition and voluntary redundancies. |
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| Fact 6 | In 2011, there were 8,500 students enrolled in TAFE courses at UB. With the planned reduction in the number of courses the total number of our TAFE students over the next couple of years will decline to around 6,400. We regret this and have warned the State government that it is regional students who are likely to suffer the most because of the TAFE funding cuts. |
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| Fact 7 |
UB will remain the largest provider of accredited training in the western region of Victoria and through our TAFE courses we will continue to offer a wide range of apprenticeships and quality skills training including:
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| Fact 8 | UB will also continue to offer a wide range of other TAFE courses in health, business administration, general education, community services, children's services, disability studies, English language, massage, graphic design, information technology, nursing and aged care, training and assessment and vocational education. |
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On behalf of our staff and students, we thank the community for your ongoing support of our TAFE courses at the University of Ballarat and, to our loyal industry partners, a reminder that we are very much open for business.
David Battersby
Vice-Chancellor
University of Ballarat
