TAFE Queensland

Tafe in Brisbane, QLD

TAFE Queensland is the largest and most experienced provider of further education and training in Queensland offering practical, industry-relevant training to over 120,000 students annually, across more than 500 program areas.  On 1 July 2013, TAFE Queensland was established as an independent statutory body under the TAFE Queensland Act 2013. The TAFE Queensland network is made up of six regions delivering training from Thursday Island to the Gold Coast, from Bundaberg to Roma and across the south-east corner.

Significant economic and policy changes have led us to the TAFE Queensland we are today. Our history is rich and our achievements are many. We aren't shy of saying that we've made great happen for over seven million students for over 130 years, and we're proud of it!

We've come a long way since our humble beginnings. In 1882 on September 4, we started with only a dozen students in the garret of the North Brisbane School of Arts for a class in mechanical drawing.  In the same year, we expanded our course offering to include geology, bookkeeping, French, German and the history of the British Empire. Prior to this, post-school education was expensive and generally reserved for the wealthy. Technical colleges gave a greater number of individuals access to the skills they needed to participate in the workforce.

In 1940 our Rockhampton, Ipswich and Central Technical Colleges began training men and women as munitions workers and technicians for the Army and the Air Force under the Commonwealth Technical (War Time) Training Scheme.  Five years later the Brisbane Technical Correspondence School opened offering 38 courses in art, commerce, literature, mathematics, rural studies, trades and domestic science. Courses were targeted at serving and discharged members of the armed forces.

Interestingly, it wasn't until 1974, with the release of the Kangan report, that all Technical Colleges became known as Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Colleges.