Message From Alex Springall:

Yesterday (31.01.01), Don Alexander, Ray Alford and I had a meeting with a group from NSW TAFE regarding the Diploma of Hydrology & Environmental Management.   This is the course that we, together with Paul Langshaw and Mark Harvey & input from other authorities, came up with about 2 years ago.   At that point, all the subjects and their content were defined, some subjects were wholly or partly available from other courses and some needed to be written.

Our understanding then was that because the National Water Industry competencies did not cover Hydrographers, TAFE would be able to get the course approved on the basis that it had industry approval.   Since then, the TAFE officer who was running with the course has left, (as has the person who took over from him) and apparently the rules have been changed to say that no course will be accredited that does not align to the competencies.  

This has led to the situation where people are trying to artificially match the topics in the course to competencies that are more relevant to treatment plant and water distribution operators than hydrographers.

Also, TAFE are saying that they need industry support in terms of enrollments, course writers & reviewers and possibly funding.

I'd like to talk about this in a bit more detail at the AHA meeting on the 17th if there's time, as there are some positive things we can do as an association and through our employers to try to get it off the ground.