Nervous wait
Education officials are likely to know within the next week if Longerenong College will be able to open its doors to international students.
College leaders are waiting ‘with bated breath’ for news of an application for Commonwealth approval to provide education services to overseas applicants keen to study agriculture in the region.
The college has been working to win a place on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, CRICOS, as a result of growing international student inquiries.
College campus head and former student John Goldsmith said he expected to get notification about the application this week. “We really are waiting with bated breath and we’re hoping that the saying ‘good things come to those who wait’ is true in this case,” he said.
“We’re confident we’ve ticked all the boxes involving what’s needed and required and I was hoping we might have heard last week.”
Longerenong College, operated by Skillinvest, provides vocational training through Advanced Diploma of Agriculture and Certificate IV in Agriculture as well as many other agricultural-based courses.
Its student numbers is growing steadily and this year it has more than 100 full-time students, the biggest cohort in in more than 15 years.
The students are studying for diploma or certificate qualifications and most this year are pursuing Advanced Diploma of Agribusiness Management qualifications.
College business development officer Donna Winfield said international student inquiries had steadily increased during the past five to seven years.
“We are getting more and more every year from places such as India, Africa, right across Asia and even Europe and the United Kingdom,” she said.
“If we get the go-ahead, we can start accepting international students from February next year. We’re confident it’s going to happen.”
If the college’s application is successful the move is likely to significantly bolster student numbers, dramatically expand the college’s direction and dynamics and open the door for greater tertiary-based investment in the region.
Mr Goldsmith, when asked how he might react if the application failed, said ‘he was not entertaining any thoughts about a negative response’.
“I haven’t really entered any thoughts about that, because this is the right move,” he said.
The Longerenong developments come at the same time the Victorian Chamber of Commerce has called for greater investment in regional Victorian agribusiness and infrastructure and an increase in agricultural students.
The chamber made the declaration in response to its Agribusiness Taskforce Harvesting Growth for Victoria report.
Chamber chief executive Mark Stone said many Victorians did not realise how important the agribusiness sector was to the state.
“Agribusiness products account for 29 percent of all Australian food and fibre exports and a significant 47 percent of all Victorian export goods,” he said.
“This comprehensive report outlines the steps needed to ensure its continued growth.
“In a sector characterised by an ageing workforce and a comparatively low number of agricultural graduates, measures to address skills shortages and attract more young people to agribusiness careers must be fast-tracked.
“We are calling for more resources for agribusiness investment, infrastructure, education and training. Infrastructure gaps must be addressed as a priority because they are holding back agriculture’s supply-chain productivity.
“Costly and unnecessary red tape is also working against the efforts of many producers.
“In regional Victoria, there are many projects that could reduce transport constraints, such as funding the Shepparton, Traralgon and Mildura truck bypasses, progressing the Rutherglen and Horsham bypasses and upgrading freight connections from the Geelong Ring Road to the Port of Geelong.”