Wodonga TAFE awarded Australian Defence Force new contract

Mr Paterson said the Vocational Education and Training sector was great at giving disadvantaged people a pathway to education and creating more social equity.

But, he said, VET and TAFE were so much more.

"If you come and look at our engineering facilities these are state-of-the-art modern, and servicing the needs of industry," Mr Paterson said. "If we just focus on the fact we're doing the social equity piece then I think we're missing the other part of the story which is that TAFE does provide career opportunities to people and earning capacity to people that does compete with universities."

Both the NSW and Victorian government have announced inquiries into Vocational Education and TAFE sectors, with the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying their inquiry would investigate a HECS-like loan system for VET.

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Mr Paterson said a HECs-like system could break down barriers to education, but could also saddle students with debt. He said Victoria's free TAFE program seemed preferable.

"It's a way of passing some of the obligations for training from the state to the student," he said. "While you can have a lot of reviews I think if we're going to get an equal choice for students in vocational education or higher education the funding needs to be there... and it's not.

"We need to stop the dialogue about [VET] as only being about the disadvantaged, and we need to promote TAFE as truly a choice that is equal."

Mr Paterson said TAFE provided a variety of education and training beyond what might be assumed.

Wodonga TAFE recently signed a contract with the Australia Defence Force to deliver driver machinery and plant training services at the Army School of Transport at Puckapunyal.

Mr Paterson said Wodonga TAFE was the largest ADF training provider in Victoria, and the new nine-year contract opened up the opportunity for growth and for the provider to deliver training nationally.