RMIT University Gets New Trades Training Centre To Help Build Local Workforce

The new Trades Innovation Centre at RMIT University will help in creating a local workforce across Victoria.

Study in Australia: RMIT University has built a new Trades Innovation Centre by investing $20 million. The Centre includes state-of-the-art equipment including excavators and virtual welders, and purpose-built skills bays.

RMIT Deputy Vice-Chancellor Vocational Education and Vice-President Mish Eastman said, “The Trades Innovation Centre builds on RMIT’s excellence in vocational education by delivering world-class training, while also addressing local skills demands. The new centre will connect the dots between the next generation of tradies, industry and employers, to support projects in the northern growth corridor and across the state.”

The students will get support from various partners and support services to have better learning experiences.

Trades Innovation Centre Program Manager Donna Sullivan said, "We do things differently at RMIT, and the new centre will really be a place for people to pursue a rewarding career in trades, no matter their background. The school wasn't my strength, but then I found trades. I always say, I may not be able to read Harry Potter, but I can build Hogwarts."

About Federal Labor's Universal Mobile Coverage Pledge

If the Labor government returns to power at the next election, the Australian telecommunications providers need to provide mobile phone coverage across the nation. An RMIT expert has explained what it means for the consumers.

RMIT School of Engineering Associate Professor Mark Gregory said, “This is a good policy that should gain bipartisan support; it is a major world first reform that would provide basic universal outdoor mobile coverage across Australia. It would deliver great benefits to all Australians by ensuring they can make phone calls and send text messages almost anywhere across the nation. It should also reduce the cost to consumers by providing the telecommunications industry with certainty whilst also encouraging open and fair competition.”

An RMIT expert has also commented on Trump's banning the paper straws in federal agencies.

Dr Bhavna Middha, Senior Research Fellow, College of Design and Social Context said, “Many people will be reacting to the US paper straws ban, which inevitably prompts debate about which straw is better: plastic, which is sturdier and more accessible for some people with disabilities, or paper, which is biodegradable. Repealing regulations that reduce the use of plastics is commonplace around the world. Varied reasons are cited, including that only a certain thickness of plastics should be targeted by bans (leading to different thickness plastic bags being advertised as reusable), lobbying from plastic manufacturers and associated industries, the lack of effective substitutes available and consumer dissatisfaction with badly designed substitutes."

"Such fast-moving policy changes creates market and consumer confusion. This leads to access and affordability issues with regards to substitutes, as well as distrust in government regulations. The issue we should be focused on is how to reduce plastic use. But what we’re seeing in the US is ultimately destabilising climate change mitigation efforts. Government policies play a large part in the transition from plastics. Policies need to be well thought out, well designed and equitable for them to succeed – but also to minimise the possibility of governments changing regulations by criticising inefficient substitutes. We should also re-think our food services and retail to reduce the need for single-use plastics in the first place.”

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