AUSTRALIA CONTINUES TO SUPPORT TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRAINING IN FIJI

10 October 2007


Australia is pleased to support Technical and Vocational Training in Fiji, according to High Commissioner, James Batley. Mr Batley made this remark while launching the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s TVET/Enterprise Education Expo in Suva last night.

Mr Batley said Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) was a priority education area not just for Fiji but world-wide. He said studies had shown that every year 17,000 new entrants join the labour market in Fiji, including about 14,000 school leavers. Despite this large number of entrants to the labour market, there is still a skills shortage in many areas.

“So there is a mis-match between the supply of new workers and the demand for skilled labour which is holding back the nation’s economic development.

“It is this mis-match which the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s TVET strategy – with Australia’s support – is designed to address,” Mr Batley said.

Mr Batley said Australia had been supporting TVET and Enterprise Education in Fiji since 2004 as part of its Fiji Education Sector Program, a five year program of assistance valued at around A$25 million.

“The Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC) is another example of our work in the area of Technical and Vocational training,” Mr Batley said.

Australia is providing around A$150 million in funding for the APTC through to 2011.

“It will deliver world class vocational education and training to Pacific island students in the areas of tourism and hospitality, automotive, manufacturing, construction and electrical, and health and community services,” Mr Batley said.

APTC training centres will be co-located with partner institutions in the four campus countries – Fiji, Samoa,Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

“The training offered by the APTC will complement, not compete with, courses offered by local institutions,” Mr Batley said.

The APTC is expected to begin offering training in Fiji by late November for the automotive and construction/electrical schools.

Training in Hospitality and Tourism is expected to begin early next year.


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