Blog

As Covid-19 social distancing and operating restrictions are easing across NSW, I am pleased to share our plans with you for Term 3 programs. We are currently in Stage 1 (online classes only) and are aiming now for Stage 2, with a gradual and safe return of students for some activities that were not possible to offer via online learning.  Read more about our plans for Stages 1, 2 and 3 and our Covid-Safe Plan.

We gratefully acknowledge a one-off Covid-19 Relief grant for $76,357 made available by the NSW State Government to a number of Adult and Community Education providers in these extraordinary times. NSW Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education the Hon Dr Geoff Lee, noted in his letter that “Adult and Community (ACE) colleges deliver vital services and support to some of our most vulnerable citizens and I acknowledge the valuable contribution that the sector makes to our local communities”.

Yet another memorable moment to put in the College history books. In the first week of April 2020, we started operating our virtual Community College. Another turning point for Macquarie Community College – and this in our 70th Anniversary year!

From Monday 30 March 2020, Macquarie Community College will temporarily cease our face-to-face delivery of classes. Over the next weeks our teachers, trainers and tutors are working together with the Program teams to get their classes ready to recommence for the start of Term 2 in May 2020, where we will introduce blended learning options.

Macquarie Community College is an educational community where we “walk together and talk together” regardless of our beliefs, backgrounds, colour, abilities or other “differences” – where everybody belongs.We urge all to do their bit to keep our communities strong, to offer a kind word or a cuppa to a neighbour that might be feeling vulnerable or sad, to depend on facts not fears. Stay Calm, Wash your Hands and Open your Hearts seems to me to be a good mantra for these times.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is Generation Equality. Generation Equality is a call to action to join forces across generations, to create a world where every girl and woman has equal opportunities to fulfil their full potential. At MCC, we are celebrating our 70th year of delivering inclusive and affordable learning opportunities, unlocking learning and earning pathways for a very broad and diverse range of women  - in 2019 more than 70% of our students were female and from a range of ages between 18 and over 70 from a very diverse range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

Once again, we are very pleased to share some highlights of independent, rigorous national research conducted by NCVER in 2019 summarising responses about accredited training delivered in 2018. In our 2019 report we again have results that are better than the 2019 national average of all VET providers.  71.2% of respondents were not employed prior to training, with 28.3% of them moving into employment after training with Macquarie Community College. 

A recent independent survey on student outcomes conducted by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has found that MCC has seen further improvements in our already strong results of the previous year – with results that are generally better than the national average of all VET providers. MCC also has strong employment outcomes. Our results show that we are actively and effectively helping our students, many of whom face barriers and disadvantage, progress along a training pathway to employment.

The latest Community Colleges Australia Report shows that Community Colleges over-perform on almost all tracked measures in reaching vulnerable and disadvantaged students.

They say you can learn something new every day…and you should! This month, we celebrated Adult Learner’s Week at Macquarie Community College. As the CEO of the College I find that  Adult Learner’s Week is a great occasion every Spring to celebrate the Philosophy of the College: “We believe that participation in quality life-long learning is transformational”.