Gaining Qualifications, Adult Education and Scholarships
The minister of Education and Training is Rod Welford. According to him, before 30 June 2007, for the people, who wanted to qualify for TAFE, and in specific enroll Certificate III level and above, there are 520 Skills First Scholarships available. He also said that the main purpose of the organization is to encourage more people ?? gain training qualification, and vocational education. This is the strategy of the organization, being a part of the Queensland Skills Plan, headed by the Government. The budget amounts around $1 billion.
The idea is, that the associate professionals, who own their companies or organizations, as also the people interested in trade, can become formally qualified. The reason is that they have already developed the necessary skills and experience, but it would be better, if they passed qualifications to work the certain job. This would bring more confidence in the society.
When a person enrolls in any of the qualifications in the TAFE institute, there will be a subsidy of $1000 provided to help the Skills First recognition of the process of prior learning. By this program, the candidates may spend money only fees for passing the 'gap' training, which is required for getting any qualifications. The program will let all the people, who qualified to evaluate their abilities as professionals. And if they need some extra qualifications or training in specific areas, this will be defined by specialists.
There are different areas, in which the scholarship will be available. Some of them are: cabinet marketing, automotive, commercial cookery (hospitality), retail banking, and engineering. The purpose of these scholarships is better trade recognition. The opportunity to take them will be given to the people who enroll in Certificate III level, or above.
There are also scholarships for the people, who enroll in Certificate IV level or above. Some of them are: information technology, tourism and hospitality, business, disability work, services for the community, as also children's services. These areas are para-professional.
