South Regional TAFE is preparing for a big year in the South West with a jobs and skills centre opening soon and partnerships with industry including lithium giant Albemarle looking promising.
Managing director Duncan Anderson said the TAFE had performed well in 2018, growing in its training delivery, with 2019 expected to deliver more training as shortages become evident.
“If training is happening then generally people want it for a particular reason,” he said.
“The apprenticeship numbers in the South West have held and so have the traineeship numbers and so that tells me that industry is not going backwards, it’s either staying or improving, which is good news for the region.
“There is a renewed focus on the need for TAFE, simply because there aren’t enough people for the work that needs to be done.”
Mr Anderson said Albemarle’s workforces would need particular skills and the TAFE was well positioned to deliver that.
“We’ve started working closely with Albemarle and we’re optimistic about that, there are a number of different projects around the region that are looking to take on more training, which is great,” he said.
“A lot of people are coming back to TAFE, which tells me that we’re aligning to what industry and business need, so everything seems to be going pretty well.
"TAFE is moving up that list as being the provider of choice down here and that’s exactly what we should be doing."
Mr Anderson said 2019 would be about building on what the organisation did well in 2018.
"There will be a jobs and skills centre in Bunbury, that’s off the back of a government election commitment to bring a one-stop shop around career advice, training and different services," he said.
"That will be based down on Robertson Drive and that’s a really exciting development."