190 industry trainees have signed on the Future Print Apprenticeship Project in the first year of the ambitious industry transformation programme.
This month, the scheme will undergo evaluation at an Apprenticeship Summit, (16 September Rydges, Sydney Airport, Sydney. 9.00am -5.00pm) convened to assess its progress as Future Print works towards delivering a sustainable training model for the industry of the future.
As Future Print’s first initiative, the Apprenticeship Project, recently signed on its 190th apprentice, taking it well on the way to its original target of 240 by the middle of 2015. The first apprentices have now achieved their first units of competency with many hoping to qualify within the next 18 months to two years.
The Summit in Sydney will bring together stakeholders from the project including Printing Industries and AMWU representatives, the RTOs and our Future Print Advisors, employers, mentors and apprentices themselves, to help evaluate how the system is working and to gather feedback, ideas and information which will help make it more effective in its second year.
Plans are well in hand for this second year of operation, says Joan Grace, Printing Industries General Manager for Innovation, Training & Employment. The program, launched last year as a federal government funded joint venture between the AMWU and Printing Industries, celebrated the milestone in pragmatic style, by releasing a tally of achievements and launching an important new project to businesses.
This month saw the official launch of the Future Print Business Transformation Project, a federally funded program which has been designed to help businesses across the entire graphic communications spectrum equip themselves to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse and dynamic market.
Running for the next two years, the Business Transformation Project will offer businesses a suite of resources from business analysis and planning, to support and training across a very broad range of business areas, complementing the industry-based training offered by the Future Print Apprenticeship Project.
The first ‘Leadership Briefings’ are being held for the Project during August and September, and have reported enormous success. Further briefings are to be held around the country in coming months, giving a wide range of businesses the opportunity to take advantage of these valuable resources.
We’re enormously pleased with the way the industry has embraced Future Print so far,” says Grace, “and with the terrific results we are starting to see and the continued input of our stakeholders, we are confident that the next year will deliver some even more exciting results.”
For more information go to www.futureprint.org.au
To attend the Summit RSVP to RSVP: Kristen Beams on (03) 8541 7303