Queensland Government | 16 April 2013
As recommended in the Roche report on Queensland TAFE, the Newman government has introduced legislation to create to establish a new TAFE Queensland as an independent statutory body.
Minister for education, training and employment John-Paul Langbroek said the new parent entity will come into being on 1 July 2013 to manage Queensland’s 13 TAFE institutes. The government expects that under the new arrangements, Queensland’s TAFE institutes will be stronger and more responsive to the skills and training needs of students and industry.
Langbroek says that, up until now, the government has been both a purchaser of training and a provider of training.
Through the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce we undertook extensive consultation with industry and they told us that we should keep TAFE at arm’s length from the government to enable it to thrive in an increasingly competitive training market.
One of Langbroek’s first tasks in establishing the body will be to recruit up to nine board members with high level commercial experience and in-depth knowledge of VET for the TAFE Queensland board.
This board will determine the new organisational structure of TAFE Queensland so it is important that we have the right mix of commercial skills and experience, balanced with an understanding of Queensland’s rapidly changing training market.
In stark contrast to Victoria, while Langbroek will appoint the interim CEO, all future CEO appointments will be made by the board to “reflect the independent nature of the new TAFE Queensland”.
There will be a 12 month transitional phase after TAFE Queensland is formally established on 1 July 2013, during which Langbroek says “it will be business as usual for all TAFE staff and students”.
See
Queensland’s blueprint for skills reform: the government’s response
