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The project is focussed on capacity building to meet the skills needs of an expanding industry and thus fits into strategic priority 5.3: Deliver skills for the new economy. The northern Australia aquaculture industry will need between 1400 and 2300 new skilled staff by 2030 to support projected industry growth. Aquaculture producers identified challenges in the shortage of domestic skilled and experienced aquaculture staff and on-farm biosecurity and health management capacity building. Producers highlighted the requirement to build skills to meet industry growth needs, including professional development for current staff, aligning training with industry needs and promoting career opportunities in the northern Australian aquaculture industry among regional communities. The proposed project aims to de-risk industry investment into growth by matching human capital expansion to industry growth predictions.

Objectives

1. Provide educational providers with documentation of the skills sets required of their graduates in order to shape course outcomes.

2. Provide data on the capacity requirements of education providers into the future to guide the course size needed to meet the expansion ambitions of the industry.

3. Provide evidence and pathways to meaningful careers for students entering the latter stages of secondary education.

4. A workforce education that more closely matches industry demand for qualified personnel.

Final report

Authors: L. Nankervis G. Barbaro A. Irving M. Joyce M. Pizzutto A. Diedrich K. Condon

Final Report • 2023-01-01 • 1.44 MB

2021-019-DLD.pdf

Summary

The aquaculture industry in Northern Australia (NA) is undergoing a period of unprecedented growth, precipitating an increasing demand for skilled staff. To facilitate this growth, the industry requires an increasing stream of suitably skilled and qualified entrants to the industry workforce. Prior to this project, the extent to which educational models aligned to industry requirements was unclear, in terms of graduate knowledge and skills, but also in terms of graduate numbers. We aimed to address this alignment, while also identifying barriers to cost-effective delivery of vocational training for the Northern Australian aquaculture industry and investigating new training models that may assist. We further aimed to identify career pathways and derive careers documentation to better align the interests of potential industry entrants to education and careers pathways, highlighting this industry to those with compatible interests.