What great divide?: co-locating VTE, community and higher education on the Central Coast Region of NSW

This paper will address the theme of breaking down education sectoral barriers by presenting a case study of the Central Coast Campuses in NSW that combine community, secondary, further and higher education on the one campus at Ourimbah. The initial driver for establishing the Ourimbah campus was the need to provide a tertiary education precinct on the Central Coast, but this was expanded into a concept that would provide "improved educational opportunities and maximum educational benefits for the people of the region" by incorporation of VTE and Community College partners on the same site; then by extending the partnership to conceive of the Gosford and Wyong TAFE campuses as part of a set of three campuses forming an educational community precinct and building strong synergies between courses and credentials through strong links to business and industry. The Central Coast region is characterised by an increasing population and economic growth but low education participation rates. The development of seamless pathways is one of the key policies and achievements of the campus, constructed on the basis of joint planning of programs and the development of articulation arrangements appropriate to the region, with just under 1,000 TAFE students offered entry into the University of Newcastle in 2007. However, divides still exist and this paper will present a number of key issues about colocation of educational sectors for discussion