Victorian government launches second round of Skills Solutions Partnerships Program

The Victorian government has opened the second round of the Skills Solutions Partnerships Program, a $4.75 million initiative supporting industry partnerships with the state’s TAFEs and dual sector universities “to co-design and pilot” short courses addressing skills gaps.

According to a statement from state industry minister Colin Brooks on Monday, the program targets priority sectors including manufacturing, defence and the circular economy. 

A successful expression of interest will see a consortium invited to a co-design process, aligning their understanding of a particular skills gap, possible solutions, and a pilot to address the problem.

“Upon successful completion of the co-design process, partnerships will have the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to $500,000 (with funding to be matched by the project partners) to pilot their new training solution” reads a description on the Business Victoria website.

Round one of SSPP supported six pilot projects. One of them was led by the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes, in partnership with Swinburne University and MTPConnect, which delivered a 12-week medtech commercialisation course to 45 early-career researchers.

“We’ve seen fantastic results from the first round and I look forward to more bold ideas from industry and our leading training providers,” said Brooks.

More information is available here.

Picture: credit Victorian government