Employers to give approval to training colleges and courses

Industry groups will be allowed to choose which colleges and courses deserve a stamp of approval as preferred suppliers under new Australian government trade training plans.

The plans are part of the government's moves to set up an Institute for Trade Skills Excellence. It plans to invest AU$23 million over four years in the institute in a move to improve the quality and industry relevance of vocational and technical education.

The institute would be set up as a public company. One of its roles would be to let people know which colleges and courses had been approved by employers.

Reference groups would advise the institute on the needs of employers in a range of industries.

The industry reference groups would provide the opportunity for the direct involvement of industry in recognising high performing Registered Training Organisations within each specific industry.

Executive director of New Zealand's Industry Training Federation Darel Hall said the Australian plans were a more blunt tool than the New Zealand situation where organisations wanted to be able to differentiate between the strong and the weak parts of a training organisation.

He said there was an upward curve of employer input into training; and moves to have more employer input into training would help create a market of voices for the training sector.

Mr Hall said employers were going to have more and more voice over time in training. This had been clear in speeches from Dr Cullen (the Tertiary Education Minister) and communications from the Tertiary Education Commission.

An Australian government statement on the institute is at this web page.