140 years! TAFE Queensland celebrates its proud history

TAFE Queensland will celebrate a mammoth milestone next month, with the state’s largest and most experienced training provider set to blow out the candles on 140 years of quality vocational education and training.

The organisation will mark its 140th birthday on Sunday 4 September 2022, with the occasion highlighting TAFE Queensland’s ability to continually innovate, adapt and progress throughout generations of changes in industry, technology and culture to repeatedly deliver quality skills to students, employers and communities across the state, Australia and globally throughout its proud history.

TAFE Queensland Chief Executive Officer Mary Campbell said that as the market leader of high quality education and training in Queensland and beyond, TAFE Queensland has many incredible achievements to commemorate — but promised the training provider was only just getting started.

“Over the past 140 years we’ve helped people build things, make things, and fix things. We’ve helped people to heal, helped people to grow, and helped people to gain the skills they need to do extraordinary things,” Mrs Campbell said.

“From our humble beginnings in 1882 – with a class of 12 industrial arts students in the attic of the North Brisbane School of Arts – TAFE Queensland is today the largest, most experienced training provider in the state, supporting over 120,000 students each year studying in around 500 qualifications at more than 60 campus locations, from Thursday Island in the North to Coolangatta in the South East, and as far west as Mount Isa.

“Connected by our shared vision, our people, our values, our culture, our core business and our communities, TAFE Queensland continues to help people to change their lives. And it’s our imperative to step into the next 100 years with a commitment to continue as the leading provider of vocational education and training that is at the heart of community success,” she said.

Mrs Campbell attributed much of TAFE Queensland’s success to their close work with government and local industry, which enable them to ensure their training programs are tailored to the needs of business and community, and that their students graduate confident, capable, and ready to help drive the success of their industry.