Drastic cuts to TAFE funding by the federal and state governments have forced Victoria University to shed jobs and a large number of courses, according to its annual report.
The 2013 annual report, tabled in Parliament earlier this month, shows a $31.7 million decline in the university’s revenue for the year compared to 2012.
A $26.6 million decrease in Commonwealth funding contributed to the fall, as did an $18.5 million drop in state government funding via direct cuts and a resulting loss of student payments. But the losses were partly offset by higher student fees and other income.
Footscray MP Marsha Thomson said the report showed direct state government funding had halved from $18.9 million to
$9.7 million, pushing VU TAFE to the brink of financial collapse.
“Since $1.2 billion in TAFE cuts [over four years] were announced in 2012, thousands of jobs are gone, course fees have increased, courses were scrapped and campuses were forced to close,” she said.
“Denis Napthine has no idea of the damage he’s done to TAFE campuses and communities across Victoria, especially in Footscray.”
The report shows almost 100 full-time teaching jobs have been lost, down from 414 in 2012 to only 320 last year. But Higher Education and Skills Minister Nick Wakeling said the annual reports by Victoria’s TAFEs showed they continued to focus on training in skills shortages. “Victoria’s TAFE sector is in the middle of an exciting transformation to help ensure it continues to deliver high-quality training that leads to better outcomes for students, employers and industry,” he said.
Mr Wakeling said the government had committed “record funding for training delivery of $1.2 billion per year’’.
A government spokeswoman said the government supported a system that gave students choices and job outcomes.
“In the current training market, funding follows the student, and not the institution. So if a provider’s TAFE enrolments increase, then funding from the Victorian Coalition government will increase, too.”
She said the job losses reflected an organisational restructure by the VU last year in line with changing student demand.
Senior lecturer Paul Adams said the cuts had a significant impact on staff and students, particularly disadvantaging the most vulnerable.
The Weekly earlier this month reported VU staff fear the loss of a further 170 jobs if management pursues plans to outsource services.
