Wodonga TAFE is very proud to be providing a win for both students and community with the Victorian Government’s Free TAFE initiative that prioritises jobs in high-demand industries.
In 2020, Wodonga TAFE offered 1,290 training places to students through courses eligible for funding under the Free TAFE program.
This was an increase of 46% on the previous year’s numbers funded through this initiative, with popular courses including Nursing, Accounting and Bookkeeping, Community Services, and Early Childhood Education and Care, as well as a range of entry-level pathways to apprenticeships.
The Free TAFE program commenced in 2019 as a Victorian Government initiative aiming to remove financial barriers to training and provide skilled workers to jobs in demand throughout the Victorian economy.
Free TAFE grew considerably in 2020, with more than 70,000 enrolments across the state, according to the ‘2020 Free TAFE Report Card’ recently released by The Minister for Training and Skills, Ms Gayle Tierney.
Just one example of success is the result of two early Childhood courses being added to the Free TAFE list in 2020, to support the state-wide rollout of Three-Year-Old Kinder.
This saw a strong uptake of these courses, with enrolments doubling across Victoria as students enrolled to complete training in the Certificate III and Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care qualifications.
Wodonga TAFE’s Executive Director - Education and Training, Mr Graham Hart, said the TAFE was very proud to be able to provide quality training across a range of industry sectors with high job demand, “It’s great to be in a position to be able to offer fee-free tuition to our local community in a range of courses from entry level pathways to apprenticeships, right through to the ever-popular health sector related qualifications.”