Bendigo College of Advanced Education

Full description

Creation and Functions

The Bendigo College of Advanced Education (Bendigo C.A.E.) was established in 1976 by the merging of the Bendigo Institute of Technology (VA 3091) with the State College of Victoria at Bendigo (VA 3090). Both the Bendigo Institute of Technology and the State College of Victoria at Bendigo are previous agencies to the Bendigo C.A.E.

The primary aims of Bendigo C.A.E. (as specified in its FOI Part II Statement) were to function as an agent of decentralisation and equalisation of educational opportunity:
by providing a wide range of tertiary educational opportunities for people of northern and central Victoria;
by encouraging enrolments from other parts of Australia and from overseas to maintain vigour and diversity at the college and promote the value of regional living.

Superior Agency

Bendigo C.A.E. was incorporated in 1976 under section 29B of the Victoria Institute of Colleges Act. It was thus affiliated with the VA 571 Victoria Institute of Colleges (V.I.C.). The VIC exercised control over its member colleges' and institutes' staff establishments, salary scales, major financial and building programs, general oversight of academic standards and the awarding of degrees. The colleges and institutes, however, were controlled by their own independent councils with authority over staff appointments, enrolments and instruction, arrangement of courses, and financial management within the budget allocated by the V.I.C. The V.I.C. was therefore a superior agency to its member colleges and institutes, in this case, Bendigo C.A.E.

The Post-Secondary Education (Amendment) Act 1980 abolished the V.I.C. VA 721 Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission (VPSEC), which had been established under the Post-Secondary Education Act 1978, assumed some of the administrative responsibility previously held by the V.I.C. but, by and large, associated educational institutions governed themselves more independently under VPSEC than they were able to under the V.I.C. VPSEC retained some control of academic standards, course accreditation, and the distribution of recurrent and capital funding while exercising a more general coordinating role and providing advice on funding and community needs to both the State and Federal governments. VPSEC was therefore not a superior agency to the Bendigo C.A.E.

Subsequent Agencies

By 1981 the Bendigo C.A.E. operated a Technical and Further Education Division which was known as the Bendigo Technical College. The Technical College remained part of the Bendigo C.A.E. until 29 June 1983 when the Council of Bendigo college of Technical and Further Education was constituted a body corporate under Section 23 (2) of the Post-Secondary Education Act. From that time onwards VA 1197 Bendigo College of Technical and Further Education became a separate, independent institution.

From 1 January 1991 the Bendigo College of Advanced Education affiliated with La Trobe University (VA 1184) and offered courses as La Trobe University College of Northern Victoria (L.T.U.C.N.V.).

Location of the Records

See list below and List of Holdings 1985, Section 5.21.0. for records of VA 1186 Bendigo College of Advanced Education and its previous agencies and Section 5.222.0 for records of VA 571 Victoria Institute of Colleges. Other records of the Bendigo C.A.E. are held by the archives of the La Trobe University College of Northern Victoria (VA 3089) which assumed responsibility in 1991.