By ALANA MITCHELSON
The Gordon Institute will receive an additional $6.2 million of funding to strengthen its trainee and apprenticeship provisions next year, the State Government announced yesterday.
Minister for Training and Skills Steve Herbert said the Gordon had received a total of about $14 million of extra funding this year.
“The Gordon is an integral part of Geelong. They’re viable in terms of the workforce development of Geelong, increasing institute productivity and the transition towards re-skilling that’s going on, particularly from the auto manufacturers into other businesses,“ Mr Herbert said.
“This has been a great reform year. We have contributed about $140 million extra into TAFES this year. It allows TAFES to be repositioning their business towards industry needs and quality.“
He said the money would help support the TAFE to deliver important, relevant training and drive growth in apprenticeships and traineeships, to better meet employment needs of the Geelong community.
Gordon CEO Lisa Line said the funding would further assist the Gordon in providing training aligned with industry and community needs for the future.
“A major focus of the Gordon is on supporting Geelong’s economic transition. Jobs in traditional industry sectors are transitioning while other sectors, such as health and construction, are large and fast growing. Apprenticeships and traineeships are vital to the development of these sectors,“ she said.
“Our new accredited carbon fibre course aims to provide students with the abilities and skills to work in production roles; making lightweight, high-performance composite components such as wheels, sporting goods, aerospace and auto components.
“These skills become the high-value technical skills that underpin future economic growth.“
In June, the Gordon received $6 million funding from the Victorian government’s $15 million TAFE Back to Work fund to support skills development in the large and fast-growing health/science, community care, and building, design and construction sectors in both Geelong and Wyndham.
The institute also received $1 million in October to establish two skills and job centres.
