The federal and state governments are joining forces to establish Western Australia’s second Australian Tech-nical College in the Pilbara region.
The federal and state governments are joining forces to establish Western Australia’s second Australian Tech-nical College in the Pilbara region.
The WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy will lead an industry consortium, including the WA Department of Education and Training, in assisting the college’s development.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy director Reg Howard-Smith said the application for the Pilbara training college was unique compared to other training colleges that have been established throughout Australia.
“The private training college itself will sit within the current Pilbara TAFE college, a public institution, with the federal and state governments working close together in its development,” Mr Howard-Smith said.
“The Western Australian Department of Education and Training is very much a party to this agreement.”
Mr Howard-Smith said the reasoning behind the decision to build the ATC within the TAFE campus was to stop the likelihood of any duplication of existing infrastructure.
“We hope to be up and running by the beginning of 2007 and we are looking at around 200 to 250 students in the college next year,” he said.
Mr Howard-Smith said the training college would offer vocational and technical education for students undertaking their years 11 and 12 schooling.
According to information provi-ded by the Department of Education, Science and Training, the Pilbara submission failed to win Canberra’s support in the first round of ATC allocations in May last year because core require-ments were not being met.
Following further negotiations, a collaborative initiative has been established, which will be led by the Chamber and will include BHP (Billiton) Iron Ore, Pilbara Iron (Rio Tinto Group), Woodside Energy and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
A business plan is being devised to work out how much funding would be needed to develop the college, which has also been supported locally through the involvement of industry groups including Newcrest Australia, Fortescue Metals Group, Worley Parsons, SKM and Ngarda Civil and Mining.
The Pilbara Technical College is the 22nd ATC to be announced under the federal government’s election promise to establish 25 ATCs in 24 industrial and commercial regions across Australia.
Last month, WA was provided with its first ATC, to be located in Maddington, with federal funding of $16 million. It will provide year 11 and 12 students with trade training through school-based apprentice-ships to target local skill needs.
