Community Colleges

Disadvantaged Australians fared worse during COVID-19 and have lost out on learning

Disadvantaged Australians have fared far worse than all others during COVID-19. A new report from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) reinforces the tremendous challenges the pandemic has posed for disadvantaged and vulnerable Australians. Those findings have been reinforced in turn by two NCVER reports which show disadvantaged adult learners have left training in...

December 2, 2022

CCA CEO calls on Australian universities to partner with community education providers

Community Colleges Australia (CCA) CEO, Dr Don Perlgut, has called on Australian universities to partner with not-for-profit adult and community education (ACE) providers to ensure the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged Australian post-secondary education learners are met. In a presentation to the Engagement Australia conference this week, Dr Perlgut detailed six ways...

November 23, 2022

CCA Advocates for Guardrails to Protect Australian Community Education Providers from Consequences of “Free TAFE”

Community Colleges Australia (CCA) has formally requested “guardrails” to protect Australian adult and community education (ACE) providers from possible unintended consequences of “Free TAFE”. This policy will create an additional 180,000 “fee-free” TAFE places to commence in January 2023 and a further 300,000 places from 2024. In its...

November 15, 2022

Eminent Australian Higher Education Leader to Speak at the CCA Annual General Meeting

Eminent Australian higher education leader Professor David Wilmoth (pictured), former Deputy Vice Chancellor at RMIT, will be the guest speaker at the Community Colleges Australia (CCA) Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held on Tuesday 22 November. Professor Wilmoth recently published The Promise of the City: Adventures in Learning Cities and Higher Education ( Read more

November 8, 2022

CCA Conference Comments Reinforce an Outstanding and Successful Event

The Community Colleges Australia (CCA) September Sydney conference has been called an outstanding success by almost all who responded to the post-conference evaluation. A sample of the comments received: “Great content and great networking”. “Quality of speakers exceeded my expectations.” “Staging another excellent conference even after being absent for a couple of years due to COVID.” “The organisation...

November 1, 2022

Commonwealth Budget delivers $493 million for Fee-Free TAFE and vocational education places

The new Labor Government’s first budget – announced by Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers (pictured) – makes good on its pre-election commitment to provide 180,000 Fee-Free TAFE, to be jointly funded by the states and territories. The Budget also commits to “stable and long-term funding for VET through a five-year National Skills...

October 26, 2022

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