Industry urged to give students a fair go
In a public hearing before the House of Representatives Economics Committee in Canberra last month, the Textile Fashion Industries Council of Australia (TFIA) proposed to reduce HECs fees for students undertaking approved training in manufacturing courses.
TFIA executive director Ashley Van Krieken, who headed the delegation of manufacturers and designers, said the idea was floated to encourage greater enrolment at institutions throughout Australia.
"We asked ourselves how can we overcome the skills crisis, how can we increase the level of people coming into the industry? By reducing HECs fees, we would think it would make courses more attractive to students."
But not all education providers are convinced this scheme tackles the core problem. Programs manager of fashion at RMIT University Tina Guglielmino said the issue was not crippling fees but the amount of government funded places available to students.
Guglielmino said that one particular RMIT degree in fashion technology could only accept 12 HECs funded students per year and that she was processing more applications than there are places.
"What we would be lobbying for is more HECS funded places at universities."
Guglielmino also urged leaders not to place responsibility on just educational providers but on both government and industry bodies. She said the shortage in patternmakers in Australia was not due to poor enrolment but to extremely high industry expectations.
"The industry is not prepared to take patternmaking graduates because they usually look for someone with three to five years experience. They need to assist and foster the growth of graduates so they can gain that experience."
Guglielmino also said that incentives for other technical employees, such as sample machinists, need to be increased.
"If they were payed more, there'd be a greater stream of applicants. This issue is a three way problem, we need to get governments, industry and education providers on this together."