Thursday, 24 February 2022

Centre for Higher Education Studies

Ms TAYLOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:26): (1772) My adjournment matter is for the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education. The action I seek is for the minister to provide me with an update on the progress of delivering the Centre for Higher Education Studies in South Yarra. Today, 24 February, is the one-year anniversary of the appointment of Figurehead Construction to build the Centre for Higher Education Studies. It is also one year since I joined the minister in releasing the final designs for the state-of-the-art learning centre in my electorate.

This whole process has been years in the making. In the 2016–17 budget our Victorian government allocated $12 million to schools across the state for planning. This included funding for the Centre for Higher Education Studies. In the 2018–19 state budget $27.5 million was allocated to build the centre. The Centre for Higher Education Studies will further improve educational outcomes for high-achieving and high-ability senior secondary school students across Victoria. CHES students will be able to study first-year university courses and select VCE subjects accompanied by an enrichment program. This head start on tertiary courses allows Victoria’s most capable students to undertake study aligned with their skills and interests which contributes to their ATAR, all the while gaining university credits. All of these programs will be completely accessible for our rural and regional students, with virtual platforms to complement onsite learning. I look forward to the minister’s update.