Australian Apprentices will be trained in modern technologies at a new $75 million, purposed-built training centre opened in Sydney today. The Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans said the impressive Ausgrid Learning Centre at Silverwater combines the best of industry training with the best of sustainable design; with the building achieving a 6 Star Green Star environmental rating. The Centre, funded under the Australian Government's Education Investment Fund (EIF), will enable around 400 students to be trained in an area of critical skill shortage within the electricity supply industry.
Advancing Quality in Higher Education outlines the Government's $1.3 billion commitment to assuring and strengthening the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. The Government is establishing the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) to provide the quality assurance to underpin a growing and sustainable higher education sector. Subject to the passage of legislation, TEQSA will be in place by July 2011 to carry out regulatory activities from January 2012.
Children would be required to learn core subjects such as maths and science in a foreign language, under a state government plan to curb the "appalling" decline of languages in Victorian schools.
Experts have called for internet-connected mobile phones and wireless laptop computers to be banned in schools. The Council of Europe examined evidence that wireless technologies had "potentially harmful" effects on humans and found that immediate action was required to protect children. The respected body's findings contrast sharply with advice from the World Health Organisation that exposure to electromagnetic fields posed little or no risk to human health.
The Australian Government is delivering on its commitment to close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage by giving more students the chance to get traineeships while they are at school. Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development, Mark Arbib, launched the $50 million Indigenous Youth Careers Pathway Program at the Qantas Centre of Excellence. DEEWR Media release, 16 May 2011
Today the Senate Standing Committee for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations released its report on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011.
This Budget will get us back in the black, get more Australians into better jobs and spread the opportunities of the mining boom. Detailed information & downloads about the Gillard - Swan Federal Government Budget.
Young Indigenous Australians will be encouraged to stay in school and to make the transition to work, through a $257.6 million investment in education and training. To get young Indigenous people ready for work the Gillard Government will invest in education, training and employment programs to help people to get the skills they need to get a job.
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Minister for School Education Peter Garrett last week announced new budget funding of $200 million to provide extra support for students with disability in Australian schools. The Prime Minister said that every student in every school deserves a great education and this extra funding will help ensure that students with disability get that same opportunity. There are more than 164,000 students with disabilities currently attending Australian schools.
The Minister for Early Childhood, Peter Garrett, and the Minister for Employment Participation and Child Care, Kate Ellis, today announced more than $32.4 million to further the early childhood reform agenda. The funding consists of a $9.2 million Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) package to assist the early childhood workforce to access training and $23.2 million over four years for the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) to be met from within existing resources, bringing total funding for AEDI to $28 million (indexed) for each three year cycle.
