South West TAFE is hoping to accommodate dairy industry students who have been affected by GO (Goulburn Ovens) TAFE’s withdrawal from its campus at Terang’s DemoDairy.
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South West TAFE chief executive Mark Fidge said all dairy industry students who had been undertaking National Centre for Dairy Education (NCDE) courses through GOTAFE at DemoDairy would be invited to “transition” to South West TAFE training courses.
Mr Fidge said South West TAFE had a training course similar to that provided by GOTAFE.
GOTAFE has withdrawn from providing training at Terang following Dairy Australia’s (DA) decision to retire the NCDE brand at the end of 2017.
GOTAFE had partnered with DA in providing training through the NCDE since 2005.
DA has decided to move to a new combined education and extension framework with DairyLearn.
The decision led GOTAFE to concentrate its dairy training in north eastern Victoria and cease its operations at its Terang, Warragul and Leongatha campuses.
A GOTAFE spokesperson said students affected by DA’s decision and the subsequent changes at GOTAFE would be supported through to the completion of their studies.
“We are aiming to minimise the inconvenience to students and other stakeholders and where possible, affected staff will be considered for other existing vacancies or offered redundancy,” the spokesperson said.
DA said the new dairy industry training system, DairyLearn, would be a national training network comprising preferred Registered Training Organisations, aligned with DA.
The new education model had been developed to link preferred training providers in all dairy regions with industry approved resources and tools, DA said.
It said the DairyLearn Provider Network would include new ‘best fit’ providers in all regions during coming months.
DA program manager Shane Hellwege said the new education model would give more dairy workers access to consistent, high quality information and nationally recognised qualifications.
“To ensure the most appropriate partners are put in place for each individual region, DA’s Regional Development Programs (RDPs) and state dairy farmer organisations are playing a central role in selecting new regional training providers to join the network,” Mr Hellwege said.
“The local customisation of delivery, led by the RDPs, will ensure that the DairyLearn activities meet specific local needs while still being aligned to industry priorities,” he said.
