MAITLAND MP Jenny Aitchison has questioned how the Hunter network of TAFE could deliver tailor-made courses under centralised administration.

“Training for apprentices and small business people looking to improve their skills is vital to communities such as Maitland,” she said.

“Without the flexibility of a local campus, how will courses be offered that suit our community, our students, our businesses and our industries.”

Ms Aitchison accused the government of not listening to student complaints about changes in the sector.

3.30PM: 

The acting CEO of the Hunter Business Chamber, Anita Hugo, has issued a statement:

“Hunter TAFE plays a significant and central role in the training market here in the Hunter region,” she said.

“The Hunter Business Chamber supports an efficient system in helping meet the needs of our future workforce, but we await more detail to understand the specific changes for the Hunter and the potential impact of these.” 

3PM: 

Labor has slammed the state government’s TAFE overhaul, describing it as “sheer madness”. 

Shadow Skills Minister Prue Car said the decision to amalgamate the state’s 10 TAFE institutes, including the Hunter Institute, would mean they were “basically gone”. 

She also described the potential sale of campuses as a “huge worry” given the nosedive in enrolments in the Hunter over the past four years. 

“Any sale of campuses is only going to put the system under more pressure,” she said. 

“In some parts of the Hunter there are two campuses, that TAFE won't confirm if they are staying or going, Singleton and Scone. I'd be worried about their future under this new plan.” 

Ms Car said the jury was out on whether funds saved would be returned to students. 

Meanwhile, member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp accused the state government of trying to “dismantle” the TAFE system. 

He said it was disappointing to see the money that had gone into establishing Hunter TAFE as a brand go to waste. 

“The government has spent an enormous amount of money identifying Hunter TAFE as a brand and it’s a great brand,” he said. 

“It’s taken years to build up and a huge amount of money to build it up, in terms of advertising and concept development. 

“Handing any control to Sydney….that is not good for the Hunter or the future.  

“We’re the state's second largest city, I think we're big enough and old enough to determine our own future.” 

2.30PM: 

A WELL-KNOWN Hunter TAFE alumnus is worried the reputation of local campuses will be damaged as a result of sweeping changes to the tertiary education sector announced on Wednesday.

Newcastle hairdresser Lee Nesbitt said the Hunter Institute of TAFE was known in the industry for producing quality graduates and had a “strong legacy” dating back to the late-1800s that students were proud of.

He feared the changes would make it harder for students to find jobs.

“In our industry, to say you came from Hunter TAFE is an honour,” Mr Nesbitt said.

“Local hairdressers are proud to say they’ve come from there and it’s something you could use to your advantage.”

Mr Nesbitt said his days at Hunter TAFE were “the highlight of my career”.

“I worry that the state government doesn’t realise how important TAFE is,” he said.

The Cooks Hill hairdresser added that the biggest changes felt by his industry were the shortening of apprenticeships from four to three years.

“It doesn’t give us enough time to give them the quality education they deserve,” he said.

“The government needs to listen to what employers are telling them.”

UPDATE 2PM:

The NSW Teachers Federation has scoffed at Minister Barilaro’s claims the state government’s overhaul of TAFE is a “once-in-a-generation” reform. 

“Minister Barilaro said in some sort of show-biz way that this was a generational change,” organiser Rob Long said. 

“A management restructure is not a generational change...if this is about just cutting jobs and cost savings without a guarantee the money is going to increase to students, this will be a disaster. 

“We will be asking to meet with the minister as soon as possible.” 

He said the union was opposed to the sale of assets and was most concerned about TAFE campuses at Belmont, Muswellbrook, Glendale and Singleton. There were also fears the campus at Cessnock could be leased to a private company. 

The Newcastle Herald reported last year that the Belmont Tafe campus was one of several at risk of being sold. 

The announcement is believed to have sent shockwaves through management at the Hunter Institute and Mr Long said he had been swamped by calls from staff members worried about their jobs. 

He called on the state government to show a “transparent mechanism” by which funds saved through job cuts and asset sales would flow back to students. 

“We need guaranteed, recurrent funding for TAFE students,” he said. “We think he needs to address the funding model which is the real problem.” 

Last month it was revealed TAFE enrolments in the Hunter have plummeted since 2012, crashing from 64,403 to 24,205. 

The collapse has coincided with the introduction of the State Government’s Smart and Skilled program, which has resulted in a reduction in course variety and significant fee increases for courses not on the skills list.

UPDATE 1:30PM: 

A Hunter TAFE teacher, who did not wish to be named, said his colleagues were anticipating significant job losses among management at the institute. 

“Anyone in senior management should be very worried their jobs will be made obsolete.” 

He said teachers wanted to see more detail about the announcement but would welcome more dollars being returned to the students on the frontline rather than being lost to middle management and administration. 

Earlier: 

HUNTER TAFE will cease to exist – in name – under a major restructure of the organisation announced by Minister for Skills John Barilaro today. 

Minister Barilaro’s office confirmed jobs would go as a result of the reforms but would not confirm specific numbers for Hunter TAFE, the largest institute in the state with 15 campuses. 

The “once-in-a-generation” reforms will see a new entity take control of the state’s 10 independent TAFE institutes, in a bid to save on administration costs. 

A new digital education headquarters will be created in regional NSW, but its proposed location has not been announced. 

The reforms will also see 12 new “Connected Learning Centres” opened each month in 2017. 

Mr Barilaro said the changes to local institutes were designed to free up money.

He said the new structure would be flatten the structure of TAFE, which he labelled a “top heavy” organisation.

"Excessive overheads, a large and underutilised asset base and inflexible workforce arrangements are diverting valuable government funding away from the most important job TAFE has – training our workforce of the future," Mr Barilaro said.

A report into the sector in April found TAFE NSW spent up to 60 cents in every dollar on administration and backroom tasks and Minister Barilaro said efficiencies could save significantly more than $100 million. 

He also flagged asset sales, but promised revenue raised would be reinvested back into TAFE NSW. 

Back-office jobs will be cut and TAFE campuses sold off in a major restructure and modernisation of TAFE that NSW Minister for Skills John Barilaro calls a "once-in-a-generation reform".

Ten autonomous institutes within TAFE will be merged into a single, multi-campus entity, and a new digital education headquarters created in regional NSW to deliver more online and in-workplace training in a move designed to expand TAFE's reach and reverse the huge decline in recent student enrolments.

It comes after years of turmoil in the vocational education sector where state government reforms and funding contestability have been blamed for driving tens of thousands of students away from TAFE and for 5000 jobs lost from the 125-year-old public institution.

Mr Barilaro said the reforms would give beleaguered TAFE staff a vision of the organisation's future.

"Staff have seen a lot of change and they've seen colleagues lose their jobs, they haven't seen for what end - the vision," the minister told Fairfax Media. "Today I've given them that commitment: we're not privatising TAFE, we're backing the public provider, and investing in the resources, the assets and the people."

A report by the NSW TAFE Commission released by the minister this morning blames TAFE's "failure to adapt to changing market conditions" for leaving it with unsustainable costs and inefficiencies and for creating a skills shortage in NSW.

Mr Barilaro said TAFE NSW was spending 60 cents in the dollar on administration, and that back-office efficiencies could save significantly more than $100 million. Part of the savings would come from slashing the $70 million that TAFE currently pays to the Department of Education for administrative support, he said.

He could not put a number on jobs that would be lost but said the government would hold TAFE to benchmarking that shows public training providers in other states are 50-60 per cent cheaper than in NSW. Resources would be directed into frontline teaching, he said.

"Excessive overheads, a large and underutilised asset base and inflexible workforce arrangements are diverting valuable government funding away from the most important job TAFE has – training our workforce of the future," he said.

Mr Barilaro said only about three-quarters of TAFE NSW property is being used, and that revenue from TAFE NSW assets sold off would be wholly reinvested into TAFE NSW to build new facilities.

The government plans to open 12 new Connected Learning Centres, providing digital access to TAFE in regional NSW throughout 2017.

TAFE enrolments have been significantly declining since 2012, and the government's Smart and Skilled reforms introduced in January 2015 saw many course fees rise substantially, in a move that the government has conceded helped drive even more students away from TAFE.

The Opposition's spokeswoman for skills, Pru Car, said "my concern is that the government has presided over 126,000 fewer students enrolled in TAFE, 5200 teacher and support staff gone, and that this is just a shuffling of the deckchairs. "My fear is that this is management speak for even further cuts, and worryingly, the sale of TAFE campuses.

"They're talking about putting more courses online and we know they're actually cutting face-to-face hours for core trades like plumbing, carpentry, electricians," Ms Car said.

"At the end of the day there's less students in TAFE, less teachers teaching our students and that comes at a time where there's a skills shortage and a building boom and youth unemployment is in crisis. What the government has done today does not go anywhere in fixing that."

But the NSW Business Chamber welcomed the reforms. "Far from eroding its central role in the vocational education and training market, a more competitive and consumer focused TAFE will be better placed to provide the high quality training that connects students with jobs and a brighter future," its head Stephen Cartwright said.

- Kelsey Munro

​Sydney Morning Herald