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MEDIA RELEASE |
Mr Peter Hall MLC |
July 29th, 2008
MORE NEEDED TO ENCOURAGE EDUCATION: HALL
A concerted effort is needed to encourage more participation in higher education for Gippsland students, which will help meet the needs of local industry, a business convention has been told.
Eastern Victoria MP, Peter Hall, The Nationals spokesman on Skills and Workforce Participation, Tertiary Education and Training, told the VECCI 2008 Regional Business Convention last week that Gippsland had the second lowest rates in the State for Year 12 completion and also application to higher education.
“Only 65 percent of students in Gippsland last year (2007) even made application for university or higher level vocational training, and only 41.7 percent of students actually went on to university or higher level vocational training,” Mr Hall told a group of local business people.
He added that the overall secondary school retention rates and take up of tertiary study was much lower in regional Victoria than in metropolitan areas.
Mr Hall, who instigated and is taking part in a Parliamentary inquiry into the reasons why fewer country students participate in higher education, said there was a need to encourage country students to take up further studies.
“You (business people) will know better than me the difficulties of attracting skilled staff and professionals to work in country regions. The reality is that if a person is from the country and is able to take up tertiary training and education, they are nine times more likely to return to a regional area like Gippsland to work,” he told the audience.
“For a business and workforce perspective, that is why encouraging higher education is important.”
The Parliamentary inquiry, by the Education and Training Committee, is scheduled to hand down its report in June next year. “For reasons of Parliamentary privilege, I am not able to state what the outcomes of that inquiry are at this stage, but there are a range of submissions on the website which give an indication of the overall thoughts of many people,” Mr Hall said.
The major issues raised included the cost of living away from home, which is prohibitive for many country students who had no choice but to live in the city or another region to study. High fuel costs add to this issue.
“The Nationals believe we need to focus on improving retention rates in secondary schools and also supporting country students who want to go to university and higher level vocational training.
“We believe, for example, we need to look at a living away from home allowance, probably for those who need to move more than 100 kilometres from home to study. This might also apply to city students who want to move to a country region to study at, for example, Monash University in Gippsland.
“The current qualifications for the youth allowance means students have to defer for a year so they can earn some money and qualify for the allowance. Again, this is a disincentive and it needs to be looked at.
“We also need to look at ways of simply raising the aspirations of country kids, many of whom don’t see tertiary education as a natural step. This will be a long term challenge and may require mentoring and work experience opportunities.”
Mr Hall added that the current State Government Skills Review had put forward the proposition that costs for TAFE programs in Victoria might increase from an average now of around $900.00 to nearly double that amount.
“I fail to see how increasing costs will do other than deter people from taking up higher education. We will need to keep a close eye on the changes proposed so that we don’t see even fewer opportunities for country students.”
Media contact: Peter Hall (03) 5174 7066 or 0427 747 066