Page 4103 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 26 November 2014
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As I have said in this place before, the vocational education and training and higher education sectors have undergone significant and considerable reform, and they will continue to do so. As a result, our VET sector has developed into an adaptive and flexible system that responds to the needs of industries, students and the broader ACT community. To ensure we continue to have a strong vocational education sector, the government’s policies focus on strengthening engagement with industry and business to match training to employment, targeting ACT government funding for training to meet the skills needs and to promote employment, ensuring the highest quality training, and providing better access to training through additional supports for the disadvantaged.
We want to ensure Canberrans can make informed choices about their education and training pathways and that the training available is well regarded by industry and aligned to industry needs. To do this, the government has announced the skilled capital program, which will provide $21 million over three years to support training in areas most likely to lead to jobs. Skilled capital is based on a strong research and evidence base and has been informed and guided by industry to ensure that ongoing funding by the ACT is delivered to ensure the best outcomes for our community.
The key objective of the skilled capital program is to deliver a productive and highly qualified workforce to contribute to the ACT’s economic prosperity. The list of skills identified for the skilled capital is informed by the evidence-based forecasting of industry needs and entitlement model. This model also provides the evidence required to determine the level of subsidy applied to different qualifications. Skilled capital will complement user-choice funding for Australian apprenticeships in the ACT and the range of programs offered through the Canberra Institute of Technology.
This comprehensive approach provides an entitlement for all Canberrans to access relevant and high quality training. These programs add to other reforms taking place in the ACT’s VET sector, such as recent changes to the Training and Tertiary Education Act and changes to the Canberra Institute of Technology governance arrangements which were debated yesterday. The range of reforms being implemented and the introduction of the skilled capital in the ACT provide our community with access to quality training and reskilling. This government’s approach to education and training and reforms will ensure Canberrans have access to the education and training that will continue to support our community.
I also point out that we continue as a community to have a higher education sector that is growing strongly. The sector currently employs 45,000 people in the region and educates over 40,000 students, one-quarter of whom are from overseas. There has been strong growth in the ACT’s knowledge industry in recent years with more than 43,000 people employed across the education, scientific, technology and ICT sectors and more than 6,000 new jobs created over the past decade.
It is worth noting for members that more than 35,000 new jobs have been created in the ACT in the past decade, equating to almost 10 jobs per day each day for the last 10 years; our economy is worth $34.4 million, growing by almost $1 billion since 2000-01; the ACT has the best, most educated community in Australia, with the ACT
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