AGY-1204 | Technical and Further Education Commission [TAFE NSW]

Full description

The Technical and Further Education Commission Act, 1990 established the Department of Technical and Further Education as a statutory body known as the Technical and Further Education Commission on 1 February 1991.

The new administrative structure of the Technical and Further Education Commission (TAFECOM) included three Institutes of Technology - Hunter, Illawarra, and Sydney - plus eight Institutes of TAFE for the areas of New England, North Coast, Northern Sydney, Riverina, South Western Sydney, Southern Sydney, Western (NSW), and Western Sydney. The Institutes of Technology were based on a faculty structure with Heads of Studies in charge of specific disciplines, while the Institutes were federations of their constituent colleges with each having its own distinctive study programs and management disciplines. (1)

All college staffing functions - personnel and training - the management of educational and financial resources plus purchasing, stores and records functions were devolved from the Central Support offices to the Institutes. The transfer of material, people, and development of training manuals occurred from August 1991 to March 1992. (2)

A series of Industry Training Divisions were established within the Institutes to develop and review vocational courses in broad industry groupings. There were seven training divisions directly related to industry - Arts and Media, Building and Construction, Business Services, Computing and Information Services, Engineering Services, Manufacturing, Personal and Community Services, Rural and Mining, Tourism and Hospitality, and Transport. The three remaining divisions were responsible for pre-vocational, preparatory, labour market, some special access programs, plus basic and general education courses they included - Basic Work Skills, Foundation Studies, and Pre-vocational Programs. (3)

The Open Training and Education Network commenced operation in January 1992 as the open learning and distance education arm of TAFE NSW. (4) After successful trials at the Illawarra and North Sydney Institutes in August 1991, TAFEPLUS the commercial training arm of TAFE was launched on a state-wide basis. (5)

In June 1995 the NSW TAFE Commission became part of the NSW Department of Training and Education Co-ordination umbrella organisation. The Institute structure was retained with the Open Training and Education Network becoming an Institute in January 1997. A new division TAFE Co-ordination Services was established to provided policies, curriculum development, assessment, accreditation, management and strategic planning, statistics and performance information, plus marketing and administration. The Department of Training and Education Co-ordination provided corporate services including finance, human resources, industrial relations, public relations and legal work. Seven Educational Services Consortia replaced the thirteen Training Divisions these were (6)
* Access and Foundation Programs
* Business and Public Administration
* Community Services, Health, Tourism and Hospitality
* Construction and Transport
* Information Technology, Arts and Media
* Manufacturing and Engineering
* Primary Industry and Natural Resources.
The core responsibility of the Seven Educational Services Consortia was to ensure that Institutes were provided with education products and services necessary to support course delivery.

Endnotes
1. Annual Report of the Technical and Further Education Commission for the year ended 30 June 1992, pp.36-49.
2. Ibid., p.103.
3. Annual Report of the Technical and Further Education Commission for the year ended 30 June 1993, p.23.
4. Op. cit., p.16.
5. Op. cit., p.20.
6. Annual Report of the Technical and Further Education Commission for the year ended 30 June 1997, p.11.