24 February 2014
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RMIT has announced that it is renouncing the TAFE brand and is now styling itself as a provider of vocational education. In this notice to staff, vice-chancellor Margaret Gardener explains the rationale for the change.
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Dear colleagues
The global vocational education landscape presents many opportunities for RMIT and we are well placed to take them. A recent legislative change has provided further assistance to seizing these advantages.
We have used TAFE and vocational education interchangeably at RMIT for some time – for the future we should use only vocational education to refer to the programs formerly gathered together under the rubric of TAFE. As of January 2014, the Victorian state government passed legislation that provides that RMIT will no longer have part of its operations named as a TAFE.
Until this recent legislative change, RMIT’s vocational education was delivered under the auspices of a TAFE Institute. For many years our strategies were focused on government priorities, mandatory compliance reporting and programs funded by the State Government. The workforce was subject to a State Government endorsed enterprise agreement and the State Government also owned the assets connected with the University’s vocational educational activity.
The State government has moved to release RMIT from its obligations as a TAFE institute (although of course we continue to report in relation to State government funding); we are in the process of negotiating our own enterprise agreement for our staff and work is underway transferring previously government owned TAFE assets to RMIT.
Now that part of our University is no longer designated a TAFE institution, it is appropriate for us to describe our vocational education within the key strategies for the University. Despite our association with the TAFE label in recent times – this is a recent label in the history of RMIT since its establishment in 1887. Over the years RMIT has seen its vocational education evolve and adjust to market changes. The recent changes to the TAFE environment over the past three years have seen a further change and refinement of vocational education at RMIT.
Vocational education at RMIT delivers high quality vocational outcomes informed by industry and professional practice. Vocational professional practice at RMIT must respond to a complex and changing environment characterised by an open market, domestically and internationally. It is part of education delivery within a global university of technology and design.
A requirement for high quality teaching, in conjunction with financial viability and our strategic aspirations involves new capabilities for building student satisfaction, client relationships with industry, innovative delivery and developing new programs to meet global and local needs. A vocational education capability at RMIT is one that requires the practitioner to address their pedagogy, their industry currency and a global orientation.
Clearly the use of “TAFE” as a descriptor for our vocational education no longer captures the breadth of our activity, nor our strategic directions as a global university of technology and design. The restructured Office of Director TAFE within the new portfolio of Engagement and Vocational Education will be renamed the Office of Director-Vocational Education from 1 March 2014 and we will therefore start to transition our description from TAFE to vocational education throughout 2014.
The Schools that previously had the descriptor TAFE in their name (and this was never all the Schools that taught vocational education programs) will change their names to remove that descriptor and in the presence find clearer names.
We know that our students do not find TAFE a helpful or useful descriptor – and that their relationship is to RMIT and what it offers them. Our explorations over these last few years of the strengths and advantages of our tertiary education profile will only be enhanced by these changes.
I believe we can all look forward to the discussions that will inform the next stages of RMIT’s development.
Regards
Professor Margaret Gardner
Vice-chancellor
See
RMIT dumps the TAFE brand
