WA Students Are Enrolling in TAFE to Make Lemonade Out of COVID Unemployment

Now’s the time to upskill.

For the first time in a very long while, TAFE enrolments in WA are spiking instead of continuing to drop.

Since fee increases in 2013, WA TAFE enrolments were on a steady decline. However, that seems to have changed ever since coronavirus hit Australia, after which many were left unemployed or without enough work.

With more than 104,000 jobs lost in WA over the lockdown period, and the unemployment rate at 8.1 per cent in May, Western Australians have decided that now is the best time to upskill and explore new career opportunities.

Thanks to heavy fee reductions and cuts in July, WA TAFEs have recorded an increase of 6.4 per cent in enrolments compared to the same time in 2019.

Premier Mark McGowan announced the slashing of fees for 39 TAFE courses across WA, with some programs discounted by up to 72 per cent.

You can see all the courses that have been reduced on the Jobs and Skills WA website.

South Metropolitan TAFE student Greta Schipp, who started her Certificate III in Tourism late this year, tells Student Edge that she was always interested in going to TAFE; now was just the best time to start.

"I decided to go to TAFE right now because there’s not a lot of jobs going at the moment, I also saw that a lot of the TAFE courses were half price or reduced and I thought that now seems like a really good time to study," she says.

"I’ve been thinking about going to TAFE for a while now and then I saw that one of the courses was half price and so I decided to go on that."

With so many of her peers also affected by the impacts of coronavirus, they also decided to take up further study.

"I know a lot of people have started studying during this period, like people doing PhDs, Masters and that kind of thing as well which they maybe wouldn’t have unless the whole COVID thing had happened," she said.

While coronavirus and unemployment has hit many of Western Australians hard, Greta explains how she is glad to have the opportunity to build on her skills.

"It’s been really enjoyable, specifically tourism; I’ve noticed that a lot of people that would usually be travelling are instead studying tourism," she says.

"It’s a lot more practical than university but it’s good to be learning skills during this period."

The most popular courses have been noted at South Regional TAFE’s Albany campus, with a 70 per cent rise off last year. Courses in harvesting, hauling and civil construction appear to be the most popular.

If you’re interested in expanding on your skills, you can learn more about TAFE courses in WA on the Department of Training and Workforce Development website.

Header Image: VMJones via Getty Images