News
Creating equitable career pathways
Cost of living pressures are being felt by many Australians and VFFF hears from partners every day about the particular challenges faced by young people.
That’s why VFFF supports the Australian Government’s efforts to help ease cost of living pressures for university students undertaking mandatory course placements across selected degrees. By providing support through the new Commonwealth Prac Placement initiative, the government is aiming to ensure students can complete their studies and enter the workforce across a number of sectors that are facing skills shortages.
On VFFF’s travels around regional NSW and Queensland, the team heard about the long distances students studying at regional universities travel to undertake placements and the additional challenges and costs experienced. VFFF is also aware that a number of courses which involve students undertaking lengthy mandatory placements have not been included in the initial program. VFFF believes there is an opportunity to improve the equity in the design of future iterations of the program and have raised this with the Australian Government.
VFFF is partnering with Charles Sturt University and The University of the Sunshine Coast to provide equivalent support to that available through the Commonwealth Prac Placement, to eligible Paramedicine students undertaking mandatory placements during FY26 at these universities. VFFF and the universities hope to gather evidence of the impact of this support on the Paramedicine cohort, in support of advocacy efforts on how the Commonwealth Prac Placement program might be improved in the future.
As a foundation committed to Backing Young People, VFFF is pleased to use our voice to advocate for young people on this matter and are grateful to the Commonwealth Department of Education for providing opportunities for VFFF to do so.
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