Knowledge and skills for the innovation economy

The Ministerial Statement draws on and complements the program of activities and policies across Government, within the Growing Victoria Together (GVT) framework, to support the development of Victoria as an innovation economy. The Statement will reposition Victoria's vocational education and training (VET) system to support the achievement of the Government's goals and targets for education. It will also support the Agenda for New Manufacturing's commitment to building a competitive, innovative and connected business environment. The Statement outlines the next steps to take in transforming the VET system from one that relates to an industrially based economy to one that assists firms to compete in the innovation economy and assists communities and individuals to gain the skills they need for the future. The next key steps are to: (1) reinvigorate TAFE so that it has a highly skilled workforce to provide innovative and relevant training for firms and for students preparing for active citizenship in the innovation economy; (2) develop new VET products to meet the generic skill needs of individuals and firms, to meet new and emerging skill needs, to value local customised responses and to improve learning pathways, and (3) implement a coordinated development of lifelong learning by linking VET (and the benefits of its close association with industry) to adult community education, schools and universities.

Seven projects were undertaken in the process of developing this statement. Reports from these projects are indexed from TD/VIC 70.03 to TD/VIC 70.07, at TD/VIC 70.14 and from TD/TNC 70.285 to TD/TNC 70.287. Show less