want higher ed in lilydale? then it’s time to act

There’s a push by key prominent people in the community as well as the Shire of Yarra Ranges to see the Swinburne site in Lilydale continue to be used for education.

A recent community forum saw 200 people come together concerned about access to ongoing higher education for the outer east. Their vision is for a Yarra Valley Education Precinct.

Yarra Ranges Council has been seeking interest from potential education providers with the aim of continuing the delivery of tertiary education and skills training. Part of council’s work includes finalising a masterplan for the site which envisages cultural and community uses to complement the core educational use.

8 Things you can do

The need is apparent, the reason the site was sought in the first place was due to the low retention rates in the outer east, to encourage students to further their studies and provide local employers with a skilled workforce.

The Education Precinct needs a lot of support, not only from council or a small group of organisers, this is a whole of community effort to make sure we keep higher education available in Lilydale.

10 Key things

Forum organisers came up with a nifty list of 8 Things you can do to support further educational opportunities in Yarra Ranges and 10 Key Points for the ongoing provision of a Yarra Valley Education Precinct in Lilydale.

There you’ll find hints on who to speak to, what to say and why it’s important.

And in the broader TAFE4ALL campaign, there’s a short video competition so you can tell everyone why TAFE is awesome. TAFE4ALL are looking for 2–3 minute videos that illustrate the value of TAFE for students and the community.

To find out more you can download a poster here or visit TAFE4All for full details, including terms and conditions. Deadline for entries is October 29.

Win from a total prize pool of $2000. One Victorian TAFE student will also be selected to undertake a two-week internship in Madman's Entertainment's DVD authoring department.

Entrants can submit a short video in any category on the theme "Why TAFE is Awesome". Let your friends and family know that this is a great — and creative — way to support TAFE.

So don’t hold back, time to act, we need to keep higher ed in Lilydale.

keep higher ed in lilydale, forum to find out more

Some people have suggested this isn't a Dandenong Ranges or Lyster Ward issue. As recently as today I went to Knox City and ended up speaking to a young person working part time there, who is a student of Swinburne Lilydale campus and lives in Selby.

The closure of Swinburne Lilydale and the loss of higher education and TAFE there has very far reaching implications for students right across Yarra Ranges.

If you can, come to this public forum to discuss the future of the Yarra Valley Education Precinct. 

angry about swinburne lilydale closure?

Were you disappointed at the closure of Swinburne University in Lilydale?

Do you want to see further educational opportunities in Yarra Ranges?

Yarra Ranges needs your help.

Yarra Ranges Council and other industry working parties are working to find a proactive outcome for the former Swinburne Lilydale site.

We are committed to working with the community to advocate for our region. We do not want young people or anyone else looking for further education to be disadvantaged because of lack of access.

Come along to the Community Forum to discuss the future of a Yarra Valley Education Precinct.

Have your say and find out more.

The forum will discuss the needs and future of tertiary education in the region.

It is a part of an ongoing campaign to ensure further education opportunities for the outer east. Interested community members are invited to attend.

When: 5:30pm, Wednesday 26 September
Where: Mt Lilydale Mercy College Centennial Hall, 120 Anderson St, Lilydale

samantha in the press - swinburne

Yarra Ranges Council attacks Gembrook MP over Swinburne campus closure
Leader Newspapers
by Emily Webb
23 August 2012

samantha in the press - swinburne

Council attacks MP on Lilydale campus closure
Leader Newspapers
by Emily Webb
21 August 2012

tafe4all, swinburne lilydale, the impacts continue

Me with Amie and Jacinta, students at Swinburne
Lilydale. Last week Amie spoke to us about
the impacts the closure will have on students.

Last week I attended the TAFE4All rally in Melbourne, I was there to support locals also attending.


The petitions so far, in the thousands.

At its meeting of 12 June, the majority of Yarra Ranges Councillors voted to support the TAFE4All campaign. At our meeting of 10 July, we unanimously resolved to write to local, state and federal members of parliament expressing concern regarding the state government’s decision to reduce funding to the sector, which has resulted in Swinburne University of Technology’s announcement that it will close its Lilydale campus. To support students we’ve also had copies of the petitions available at all of our community links throughout the shire.

As has been well documented, Swinburne University of Technology will close its Lilydale campus, with up to 240 staff to lose their jobs. 

TAFE courses in hospitality, leisure, recreation and tourism will no longer be offered. With health related courses in nursing, community health, childcare, children’s services and home and community care will be a direct blow to the skills base of Yarra Ranges.

The march took up a few blocks from the State
Library to Parliament House.

This decision will see withdrawal of the following opportunities for local students:
·6 post graduate courses
.6 research courses
·69 TAFE courses
·26 undergraduate courses



Greens MLC Sue Pennicuik was at the rally.
The same day in Parliament she raised the
 issue of training rorts, you can read more
 in hansard.

Similarly, the closure will impact international student options with the loss of:
·3 research courses
·9 TAFE courses
·27 undergraduate courses

The decision comes after the Victorian government slashed $290 million from TAFE funding in the 2012/13 budget. Swinburne had $35 million cut from its budget for this financial year.

The Economic Development Unit of the Shire has analysed the economic impacts to the region. As a result of the closure of Swinburne will see a substantial loss of jobs in the education and training sector for our municipal economy.

At this stage definitive numbers on the amount of job losses that will be lost from the Lilydale campus across teaching, administrative support and maintenance staff has not been fully detailed by the University.

Whilst these NMIT students performed 'We are the
Champions', the Lilydale students leapt up on the stage.

The education sector is the sixth most important sector for output and is the third most significant sector of employment in Yarra Ranges (source Remplan 2012). Any impact to this sector will be immediately felt within the municipality leaving a significant challenge to replace this economic activity. Furthermore, the negative social impacts to our community by reduced access and opportunities for higher education will be significant and long term in effect.

If the assumption that the loss of direct jobs is 240, this loss corresponds to a decrease in output of approximately $26 million to the municipal economy. From this direct contraction in the economy, flow on impacts of the reduced purchasing of local goods and services could result in the loss of a further 25 jobs, as well as secondary job losses which could generate a further 51 job losses.

Modelling completed by the Shire’s Economic Development Unit shows that the cumulative loss is as much as $46 million for our local economy when you take into account the direct, industrial and consumption effect of the losses.

Add to this the harrowing story of Swinburne Students, who we heard from at last week’s council meeting, who will have to face 2 hour plus one way trip to alternate campuses to access their courses, would you travel 4 hours a day?

It is even more galling when considering the response of the Member for Gembrook who says “the government welcomes the strengthened focus on these areas” (science and technology.. by Swinburne) and goes on to say that the decisions made by Swinburne “makes sense”. Tell that to students in the Upper Yarra who now have to travel a considerably longer time to take up vocational education. 

If you’d like to keep in touch with what’s happening you can visit the TAFE4All website or Save Swinburne Lilydale/Prahran Campus facebook site.

samantha in the press - swinburne

Ready for uni fight
Mail Newspapers
by Emma Sun
18 July 2012

samantha in the press - tafe

Council split on education union action
Mail Newspapers
by Mara Pattison-Sowden
20 June 2012


Swinburne TAFE faces staff and course cuts
Leader Newspapers
by Angus Livingston
19 June 2012

council supports TAFE4All

report from the roundtable - 12 jun

At this week's meeting I moved a motion (item 9.1) in relation to the state government's funding cuts to TAFE.

I'm pleased that the motion (wording below) was supported by the majority of councillors. 

For: Crs Samantha Dunn, Richard Higgins, Len Cox, Noel Cliff, Tim Heenan, Terry Avery and Graham Warren
Against: Crs Jeanette McRae and Chris Templer

Yarra Ranges joins with 16 other councils in Victoria concerned about the effect on their local communities, who have voted to advocate to reverse the decision to cut funding from TAFE.

For Yarra Ranges students, the effects of the cuts are likely to be very detrimental to their ability to access training. Already students in Yarra Ranges are disadvantaged due to poor public transport services, if the funding cuts mean students need to travel even further for their studies this could be disastrous for ongoing vocational education and training. 

The Lilydale campus of Swinburne TAFE had 1,479 students enrolled in 2010.

The overall cost impact of the Government’s decision for Swinburne is likely to be in the order of $35 million in 2013, whilst exact figures are not yet known

for the Lilydale campus, it is evident that there will be a significant impact.

It is highly likely that such impacts include a reduction in the number of courses offered and to the shared support services to TAFE and higher education. Added to this, the flow-on impact to the pipeline of TAFE students who articulate into higher education will be significant owing to the budget changes.

We also know that the education sector is the sixth most important sector for output and is the third most significant sector of employment in Yarra Ranges. Any impact to this sector will be immediately felt within our municipality owing to is location on the urban fringe and difficulties in generating employment opportunities within the local region.

It goes without saying that the negative social impacts to our community by reduced access and opportunities for higher education will be significant and long term in effect. Given the lack of replacement strategy in the interim to improve skills and productivity of those relying on TAFE education, the budget cuts will have far reaching negative impacts on local communities.

This week the local paper ran a story on the job cuts at Swinburne, I encourage you to have a look: Swinburne TAFE to axe jobs.

I also encourage you to support the TAFE4All campaign.


MOTION:
That Council:
a) Resolve to write to the Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Higher Education and other relevant ministers, seeking that the State Government reverse its decision to cut the training and salary budgets of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges across the state.
b) Express concern that the cuts will put up to 1,200 jobs at risk and appear designed to put TAFE into direct competition with private providers, which will lead to fee rises, course closures and the eventual privatisation of TAFE.
c) Consider the cuts are particularly ill conceived in a period where there are increasing job losses in other industries and an Australia-wide skills shortage.
d) Support the joint Australian Education Union (AEU)  – National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) TAFE4All campaign.
e) Write a letter of support for the campaign to save TAFE funding, to the Australian Education Union and the National Tertiary Education Union.
f) Send a copy of this motion and campaign information to the MAV and VLGA 
requesting that they also make representations to the Government seeking reversal of its decision.
g) Call for a report investigating the economic, social, community service, and 
educational implications of any proposed cuts in Yarra Ranges.
h) Send a representative to the public meeting being held by the NTEU at the Melbourne Town Hall on 20 June at 12pm.

celebrating women in the community

The Shire of Yarra Ranges and Swinburne University are joining forces to bring to you Celebrating the Role Women Play in Leadership in our workplaces and communities.

This is will be a wonderful event, featuring keynote speaker Naomi Simson, founder and CEO of online gift certificate retailer RedBalloon and chaired by Professor Shirley Leitch, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Swinburne University.

Naomi is an inspiring and successful business leader, and will provide an insight into her journey to success and the challenges she faced and overcame along the way.

The celebration will also include a panel discussion of local female leaders including Naomi, myself, Jan Simmons (Morrisons House CEO) and local community leader Julie McDonald.

When: Wednesday 17th November at 5:30pm

Where: Swinburne University, LC Building, Room LC 226, 50 Melba Avenue, Lilydale

Cost: $10 - includes drink and canapes, rsvp's essential

for more information click here.

Girl power recharged with inspiring, insightful stories

Yarra Ranges Weekly

09 November 2010