Nursing students at Seymour’s GOTAFE campus say the new $6 million facility means study is “a lot more rewarding”.
Officially opened on Wednesday, March 16, by State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes, the building features integrated teaching facilities and flexible learning spaces, including interactive technology and e-learning.
It is aimed to increase student numbers in key areas of skill shortages in the regions like nursing and allied health and a clinical simulation centre is being built to prepare students for the workforce.
Nursing student Megan Dalgleish said students were now able to attend class as a full cohort.
“When we used to come in to TAFE, we used to have to come in groups of three or four throughout the day,” she said.
“Being able to come in now all at once and work together as a team in the new facility is so much better and it’s a lot more rewarding.”
GOTAFE chief executive officer Travis Heeney said the new facility was an important step forward for students in Seymour.
“Our challenge in the past was we weren’t proud of what we were delivering from an infrastructure point of view. It was not something that our students deserved,” he said.
“We’re now really proud that we’re able to deliver education out of a space they deserve.”
GOTAFE will offer Certificate III in Individual Support (CHC33015), Certificate IV in Disability (CHC43115) and Diploma of Nursing (HLT54115) in addition to Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care (CHC50113) from the new purpose-built training facility.
Ms Symes said the upgraded facilities at GOTAFE would give students more options to learn and study.
“This is something we can all be proud of as a collaboration between government, GOTAFE and the community,” she said.
“Let’s have more of these across country Victoria, particularly in northern Victoria.”
The Victorian Government has invested $3.2 billion to rebuild TAFE facilities across the state since 2014 in an effort to support universities and the higher education system.