NMIT News | 16 July 2013
Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE’s (NMIT) new $24 million Preston campus teaching and learning facility has been officially opened.
The new facility is home to a wide range of TAFE and higher education programs from Education (Early Years), Building and Construction, Interior Decoration, Engineering Drafting, Interior Decoration, Business, Accounting, Children’s Services, VCAL, Spoken and Written English and much and more.
With three levels of floor space providing 5,700 square metres of new space, the building includes 27 classrooms, each with seating capacity of between 30 and 40 students and a lecture theatre with video facilities, podium and screens with seating capacity for 150 students.
NMIT CEO Andy Giddy said the new building represents “NMIT’s continued commitment to quality education in a highly competitive vocational education market”.
NMIT continues to develop its offerings and we’re looking forward to the future. The new Preston facility is just one part of an overall strategy that will see NMIT continue to be a leading provider of vocationally focussed TAFE and Higher Education programs. Our strategy is forward looking and has some potentially exciting elements including the progression of our bid for the former Swinburne University Prahran campus plus a move toward Polytechnic University status.
NMIT has been undertaking due diligence on the Prahran campus for a number of months and a decision is reported to be imminent.
Design and Drafting classrooms with visible building infrastructure such as cables, pipe ducts and insulation on display for teaching purposes.
A project classroom where Education (Early Years) students will be able to gain skills in delivering creative art and science based subjects.
A prac room and outside area where Education (Early Years) and Children’s Services students can set up learning environments for children.
Kitchen facilities for Education (Early Years) and Children’s Services students to learn about nutrition and health practices in children’s settings.
Pod-based learning spaces to promote collaborative learning among business degree students.
The Victorian Government funded $17 million for the redevelopment of the Preston campus in May 2010 with the remaining funding for this $24 million project drawn from NMIT’s own financial reserves.
New more responsive website
NMIT has also revamped its website to a ‘responsive design’ format following a huge shift towards mobile devices, with the number of users accessing the website with a mobile device (phone or tablet) increasing by nearly 400% in the past two years.
The new website offers quick and easy access to information about 500 courses on offer and the types of career opportunities available for graduates in their chosen field and provides registered users with their own ‘personal experience’ by auto-selecting the most relevant news and updates to suit user’s interests.
- Career search tool for students to help match potential job roles to their qualifications.
- More detailed course information including how to apply and upfront fee structure.
- A new ‘industry’ tab for prospective business or government clients who are looking for tertiary providers.
The new website has been developed on the open source platform, WordPress which is a first for an educational facility anywhere in Victoria.
Word Press is widely used by Bloggers and community-based organisations; however, the platform offers NMIT much greater versatility (to manage its own content) and delivers major dollar savings for the project without compromising on online security. The Scan uses WordPress.
NMIT has more than 70,000 enrolments with approximately 20,000 international students (studying both here and abroad).
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