AN Albury Wodonga Health style merger of the twin cities' two TAFE providers has been floated by one of the nation's peak business bodies.
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The Australian Industry Group has included the potential union of Albury and Wodonga TAFEs in its statement ahead of the NSW election this month.
It calls on the NSW government to instigate talks with its Victorian counterparts to "explore the opportunity of progressing a collaborative TAFE approach in the delivery of VET courses to the Border community".
AIG acknowledges one state would take the lead role if a merger took place as happened with the Albury and Wodonga health services merger a decade ago.
Regional manager Tim Farrah, who is also an AWH board member, said a conversation about a merger of the TAFEs was timely.
"TAFEs are a commercial venture and the relevant state taxpayers expect TAFEs to run as profitably as possible," he said.
"But when you've got two TAFEs operating in a market as small as Albury-Wodonga, you just can't do that.
"You wouldn't expect either state government to invest as much as they would in a TAFE when there is another one on the other side of the border compared to Sydney, Melbourne, Bendigo or Ballarat.
"We are not pre-empting anything at all.
"While a lot of the learnings from Albury Wodonga Health will be helpful and valid, TAFE is a different beast.
"We do believe one state must have jurisdiction, but again we aren't pre-empting which way that should go."
Wodonga TAFE chief executive Mark Dixon said a merger was premature.
"What really needs to happen in this region is we all need to work together to lift the tertiary participation levels because they are still among the lowest in the state," he said.
"What we would like to achieve is real, strong cross-border co-operation between the states and TAFEs.
"It's the key quick win.
"The opportunity for the TAFEs to work together to try and remove some of those barriers with the cross-border commissioners would be a fantastic first step."
TAFE NSW was contacted for comment.
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