By CASEY NEILL
TAFE funding cuts have seen course enrolments drop in the south-east, according to Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan.
But Chisholm Institute says its enrolments are actually above what it predicted for this year.
Mr Donnellan said the State Government’s $1.2 billion cut from TAFE had devastated the sector across south-east Melbourne, with 4000 less students enrolled in the region than this time last year.
“We’ve had hundreds of jobs slashed, with a majority of courses affected at providers like Chisholm Institute, and now we’ve seen a dramatic drop in enrolments,” he said.
In the first quarter last year there were 58,100 government subsidised enrolments across Greater Dandenong, Casey, Cardinia, Frankston, Mornington Peninsula, Kingston, Glen Eira and Bayside.
The figure has dropped to 54,000 this year.
“We’ve seen a 7 per cent drop in enrolments across the south-east, and a 9 per cent drop across the state,” Mr Donnellan said.
Chisholm CEO Maria Peters said the institute had decided not to support some courses this year in the light of increased student tuition fees.
“It was predicted that this would result in a reduction in about 1000 students across all Chisholm campuses in 2013,” she said.
But Ms Peters said Chisholm was still 2 per cent ahead of its planned enrolment forecast.
“Chisholm’s enrolments have also been impacted by the current economic circumstance in Victoria,” she said.
A State Government spokesperson said Victoria experienced a record number of TAFE enrolments last year.
“While the latest data shows an overall reduction between now and the same time in 2012, it is pleasing to see that government subsidised enrolments in specialised or in-shortage occupations rose by 4 per cent over this period,” they said.
“Changes could also possibly be explained by Victoria’s falling unemployment rate which now sits at 5.4 per cent – below the national average.”
