African learning curve ends at Chisholm

AFRICAN educators visited Chisholm Institute in Dandenong on a fact-finding tour to learn about systems of education in Victoria.
The Namibian Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Swaziland, Cisco Magagula, joined the Senior Education Specialist of the World Bank, Dr Mmantsetsa Marope on the Chisholm tour on Wednesday 6 February.
The delegation was in Dandenong to get an in-depth understanding of the structure and functioning of tertiary education and training in Victoria particularly and Australia in general.
In Dr Marope’s view, Australian education and training had made progress transforming itself into a tool for supporting economic and social development.
Dr Marope said that the idea was to help African countries use their people as one of their most effective growth pillars.
“Australia grew from a natural resource base – so it is a resource-rich country like some of our countries.
“But you have managed to use the proceeds of those resources, which are finite, to create infinite resources that have endless regenerative capacity.
“The economies that are fast growing are those that have heavily invested in human capital development and ones that have heavily invested in transforming their industries into knowledge-intensive industries,” she said, “and knowledge is what rules the world now.”
These sentiments were echoed by Namibian Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba.
“If we want to succeed, and improve our economy and contribute, education should not be behind, it should take the lead.”
Chisholm CEO Virginia Simmons made a presentation on Chisholm and the Australian Vocation Education and Training framework.
Deputy CEO Maria Peters gave a presentation on the organisational management of programs, and Chisholm’s director of corporate services and chief financial officer both explained the Institute’s finance structure and corporate governance.