Education & training

Here we go with a warmup for all our trivia fiends.

The Grassland Society of Southern Australia (GSSA) is looking to rebuild by engaging with a new generation of farmers and agricultural consultants. The society has connected farmers, scientists and consultants for 65 years and members gave its future a big vote of confidence at the annual conference in Bendigo on July 17-18.

New research from the University of South Australia shows that the Australian seafood industry has become more resilient to food shocks – a good sign, with Australians eating more seafood now than ever before. Shocks are a sudden and dramatic loss in food production and can impact food security, as well as local industries and livelihoods.

A well-known Wollongong musician who acquired a traumatic brain injury after a freak accident is embarking on a new career thanks to TAFE NSW ... “I still have a deep love of music, so now I am gaining new practical skills and knowledge to start a career as a composer. I’ve just released my debut compositions onto Apple Music and Spotify, which is really satisfying": Joel Moir.

Stopping cane toads with a Toad Containment Zone (TCZ) before they reach the Pilbara in Western Australia will protect 27 million hectares of sensitive habitat, significant Aboriginal cultural heritage, and a trove of native Australian animals from population decline … the TCZ was created to halt a toad invasion with a landscape level strategy – effectively, a ‘toad-break’ - on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert.

With shovels in their hands and smiles on their faces, 38 students from the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney journeyed to the Clarence Valley last week where they spent a day undertaking a variety of local projects throughout the riverside village of Ulmarra ... All of them are hard-working and community minded members of The Big Lift, a student- run volunteering organisation founded on the philosophy of paying it forward through UTS...

Charles Darwin was right when he said: "It is not the strongest nor most intelligent of the species that survives, but the one that is most adaptable to change!" The ability to adapt is just as important for a business as it is for staff. History is littered with organisations that failed to adapt ...

Reopening its doors this week with colourful, fresh new surroundings, Mossman families are celebrating the reopening of St Augustine’s Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) after a six-month flood recovery program.  With extensive damage caused by flood inundation following Tropical Cyclone Jasper,  Catholic Early Learning and Care—Diocese of Cairns Director Alison Forster said it is great to be back delivering outside-hours care for Mossman families and carers...

A leading Charles Sturt University researcher co-led a multi-discipline team investigating the origins of dingoes, when they arrived in Australia, and how they changed over nearly three thousand years. Professor of Evolution and Environmental Change Alan Cooper … analysed genomes from skeletons and mummies of dingoes found in the many caves of the giant Nullarbor Plain across southern Australia.

Narrandera locals are future-proofing their careers by upskilling in priority industries with TAFE NSW, including in the booming agriculture industry.  Corobimilla woman Eliza Armida was inspired to enter an agriculture traineeship after developing an interest during agriculture studies in high school at Narrandera.

Regional Victorian students are struggling to keep engaged in the classroom, with new data revealing a concerning increase in rates of student absenteeism across the regions. Department of Education data has confirmed 354,549 days of school were missed by Year 7 students in regional Victorian Local Government Areas (LGAs) in 2023 - an increase of 33.6 per cent compared to 2019.

More than 50 Board Members, staff, partners, stakeholders, and community members attended the North Central LLEN Annual General Meeting and stakeholder event at the Rex Theatre in Charlton. With a focus on exploring vocational pathways to success, the evening featured a range of elements ...

As Australia’s agriculture industry continues to struggle with labour shortages, universities in other countries better prepare their students to work in agriculture. That’s the finding contained in Kathryn Fleay’s Nuffield Scholarship report ... Kathryn, an agronomy and operations manager from Western Australia’s wheatbelt, researched how Australia could shore up its agricultural workforce, particularly through university degrees with strong ties to the industry.

As the world gets more complex, the need to problem solve is a critical employability skill. We seem to live in a world where our “patience is appreciated” but problems are not solved. An example is when you have the misfortune to contact a telecommunications, utility, financial services, or government organisation ... Problem solving and accountability go hand in hand!

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During the School holidays acclaimed children’s author Rory H. Mather visited the Allora library to the delight of his audience. Rory transported the children onto whimsical adventures as he brought his book characters to life. The children were then given free books by Rory a gesture that should encourage the joy of reading.

The Victorian Farmers Federation’s (VFF) livestock biosecurity and welfare initiative, Stock Sense, is experiencing record high attendance at its Victorian events and workshops, reflecting a growing appetite amongst producers and the community for its resources. VFF Livestock President Scott Young said the initiative has never been more important since launching in its current format in 2021.