Recently professionals from across the hospitality industry attended industry forums at NSI's Ryde College and the Amora Hotel in Sydney to address the issue of apprenticeship completions.
Part of the 2011 TAFE NSW Apprenticeship Completions Project, the ‘Hospitality Industry Leader’s Forums’ focused on the need to lift Australia wide apprenticeship completions and discussed strategies on how to improve completion rates for trainees and apprentices.
Those in attendance at the industry forums included employers from across the hospitality sector, group training organisations, Australian apprenticeships centres and NSI staff.
Many of the industries well known chefs attended and took part in the discussion including, Neil Perry, Luke Mangan, Peter Doyle, Mark Jensen and Colin Fassnidge.
The TAFE NSW Apprenticeship Completions Project was developed in response to research findings that indicated nearly half of the 448,000 Australians currently undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships within Australia will not complete their qualification.
The project aims to identify, develop and promote strategies that assist TAFE NSW Institutes to work collaboratively with employers and to improve apprenticeships completions.
The forums provided an opportunity for industry representatives to share their knowledge and experiences when working with apprentices.
Andrea Poletti, NSI's Manager Business Line - Tourism and Hospitality, Environment and Horticulture said the forums were a great success.
“The voice of industry is imperative when it comes to discussing the future of our apprenticeships and traineeships,” she said.
“The feedback and opinions of those who work in the industry are very valuable to us as an education institution, as we try and understand why completion rates are what they are today.”
“There are many factors that can influence a student’s decision to continue a particular career path, so its’ important that we investigate and consider all the challenges apprentices experience while completing their studies.”
In addition to the forums, NSI will survey apprentices and conduct further research on apprenticeship completions.
The findings of the forum, survey and research will be published on the TAFE Strategy website and will become consolidated as part of a TAFE NSW report.