TERTIARY agricultural and mining education needs to be governed by industry experts rather than the education department, according to Muresk Old Collegians Association (MOCA) secretary Roy Duncanson.
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He said despite agriculture and mining being the two largest industries in WA, the small number of employees in agriculture meant its voice was never heard.
Mr Duncanson said the current education model was dying under state administered, city-based educational institutional pressures and a new national model was needed with a more direct focus on the educational needs of industry.
"There needs to be a better way to deliver education to regional Australia," Mr Duncanson said.
"Agriculture and mining are the states two largest wealth creating industries but our educational needs for those industries is decided by education experts, not by industry.
"So when the Education Minister for example says she has consulted industry, what she means is that she has consulted the education industry.
"There are only 6000 farmers in the State and as a consequence the educational needs of the industry get lumped in to education as a whole, and because there are over a million people in Perth we get out voted every time."
This comes at a time when the agricultural industry continues to fight for the future of Muresk Agricultural College.
Mr Duncanson said it was necessary for agricultural bodies, such as the Pastoralists and Graziers Association (PGA) and WAFarmers, to be consulted when tertiary education matters were considered.
"Other industries reliant on agriculture such as grain pools, road transport carriers, farm machinery businesses, meat processors, farm management consultants, advisors and agribusiness banking, also need to be considered," he said.
"Not just farming and production but all agribusiness that forms part of the food and fibre chain.
"Agribusiness is never less that 10 per cent of our entire economy, therefore it's important."
Mr Duncanson said rural education was a national problem and colleges such as Gatton Agricultural College in Queensland, Orange Agricultural College in NSW and the agricultural campuses in Victoria had experienced similar problems for decades.
He said because of their size, the agricultural colleges were insignificant compared to the universities that owned them and many were now dysfunctional.
"All the agricultural feeder high schools, such as Cunderdin Agricultural College are full and agribusiness has 63,000 vacancies nation-wide," he said.
"When the industry-based tertiary educational institutions that sit between high school and working life in industry are closing down, does that not suggest we need a new way of delivery to industry needs?
"I have personally been on the advisory committees in Orange and Gatton and the issues were exactly the same and have been for decades."
After months of lobbying with Curtin to decide the best outcome for the Northam campus, MOCA was last week invited to meet with the university to discuss a possible outcome.
But Nationals leader Brendon Grylls also called for a meeting with MOCA at exactly the same time, forcing MOCA to cancel its Curtin meeting.
Education Department agricultural education director Geoff Moyle said the department had strengthened its partnership with the Agriculture and Food Department.
"There's been considerable initiative shown by the Agriculture and Food Department and they have recently developed the Education Initiative, called AgLinkEd," Mr Moyle said.
"We're working very closely with that unit."
The Education Initiative which began this year supports education and careers in the agricultural and food industries.
"This project basically looks at professional development opportunities for teachers and technical officers delivering agricultural education as well as looking at opportunities for students," Mr Moyle said.
"This is a really exciting project and there have already been some good outcomes."
