Western Australia’s first dedicated food and agriculture vocational college, at the Australian College of Training, has opened.
Opening the $2.5 million centre at Victoria Park, WA, on Wednesday, February 4, WA Minister for Energy and Training, Peter Collier, said it would be a valuable asset to the state’s agriculture and food sector, addressing key skill needs and re-training the workforce.
“It’s extremely pleasing to see a private registered training organisation working closely with industry to provide the flexible training arrangements they require,” Collier said.
“It has also clearly demonstrated what can be achieved when a private registered training organisation has a solid working relationship with the state government and Department of Education and Training, which actively facilitates development of the training industry.
“This will be an exciting year for the college, as it will become involved in delivering apprenticeship training in WA for the first time,” he said.
The Australian College of Training won the 2008 Australian Training Award and WA Training Excellence Award.
It offers a wide range of training courses in the food, beverage, meat and stock feed processing sectors in metropolitan and country areas in WA and throughout Australia.
College CEO, Terry Richards, said the dedicated staff had helped nurture its growth from a home business started by himself and his wife, Christina, to a major training provider in just five years.
The College enrolled more than 1100 students in 2008/09, of whom 356 were funded by the WA Department of Education and Training.
Across Australia, 115 companies are involved with traineeships with the College, which has taught 1896 students since it began.