GOTAFE INQUIRY

SUMMARY
GOTAFE INQUIRY

INTRODUCTION
Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE (GOTAFE) is the largest tertiary education provider in northern
Victoria. The GOTAFE region covers 11 local government areas with an estimated resident
population of over 242,000 people. GOTAFE has campuses in Benalla, Seymour, Shepparton,
Wangaratta and Werribee.

One of GOTAFE’s stated objectives is to lead workforce development trends, contributing to industry
productivity and the enterprise business success of the region. GOTAFE aims to do this through the
delivery of vocational education and training that meets the unique skill needs of the region,
specialising in course offerings in rural nursing and community services, food processing, and
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

BACKGROUND
GOTAFE is governed by an independent Board of 11 members, who are accountable to the Minister
for Training and Skills for the good governance of the Institute. The day to day operations at GOTAFE
are managed by a CEO who is appointed by the Board. GOTAFE is one of Victoria’s 12 stand-alone
TAFE institutes, each of which is separately contracted by the Department to provide training under
the Vocational Education and Training (VET) funding contract.
Throughout 2017, the Department identified a number of concerns in relation to training delivery by
GOTAFE in meat processing and travel and tourism programs. The Department initiated an
investigation into these concerns.
The Department’s reviews and investigations into these concerns uncovered non-compliances with
the VET funding contract, and resulted in GOTAFE repaying the Department approximately $1.7M
for funding that it had claimed through those non-compliances.
Current students were not impacted by these reviews and investigations and their training
continued to be delivered by GOTAFE. The Department did not suspend, or instruct GOTAFE to
suspend or freeze commencements in any programs.
In December 2017, GOTAFE devised a management action plan to respond to the specific findings
from the Department’s investigations. GOTAFE commenced immediate remediation of their quality
assurance processes to support proper assessment of applicants and enrolment of students in 2018.

WHAT WAS THE INQUIRY FOR?

Consistent findings under the Department’s reviews and investigations pointed to a lack of
governance as the key contributing factor GOTAFE’s non-compliances. Given the continuation of the
non-compliances, the Minister accepted the Department’s recommendation that an independent
governance expert be appointed to conduct an examination of GOTAFE’s governance structures and
procedures. The Department commissioned an independent inquiry appointing Mr John Watson as
the governance expert on the basis of his extensive knowledge and experience in public sector
governance.
Mr Watson commenced his work in late February, looking into GOTAFE governance processes and
systems to find out the causes of the non-compliances so as to make recommendations about what
can be done to avoid them in the future. The inquiry commenced late February and Mr Watson

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submitted his final report to the Department on the 24 April 2018, and the Department then
provided the report to the Minister.

WHAT DID THE INQUIRY FIND?

The Inquiry found that the non-compliances were primarily caused by:
• poor governance systems and processes at GOTAFE,
• poor culture which negatively impacted on GOTAFE’s governance, and
• gaps in organisational capability at GOTAFE to satisfy compliance responsibilities.

WHAT DID THE INQUIRY RECOMMEND?

At the end of the inquiry a series of actions was recommended to help GOTAFE to improve and
support good governance and to restore the community’s confidence that GOTAFE is a provider of
quality training.
GOTAFE has accepted all recommendations made by the inquiry and the Department has committed
to supporting GOTAFE in implementing the governance cultural and capability changes, which
include:
Governance • Recruit a new CEO who has a commitment to education and a strong
organisational management background.
• Review and improve the administrative policies, structures and reporting
to assure that the GOTAFE Board can get the information it needs to
exercise its responsibilities properly.
• Appoint a GOTAFE governance adviser to support and advise the Board
and to report to the Department on GOTAFE’s governance, culture and
capability reforms.

Culture • Drive cultural change across GOTAFE and work with the Department to
improve GOTAFE’s understanding of its compliance responsibilities.
• Look at how staff can be encouraged to speak up confidently and
collaborate and share information across GOTAFE.

Capability • Clarify all GOTAFE functions and identify who is responsible for them.
• Work with other TAFEs and find ways of sharing knowledge and improving
capability.

These recommendations together with the changes that GOTAFE has already commenced will mean
that GOTAFE can keep improving. By taking these steps GOTAFE can meet its compliance
responsibilities and the expectations of the community to deliver high quality vocational education
and training.

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?

STEPS?
GOTAFE will fully accept and implement all recommendations and will put in place measure which
will restore community confidence in the institute and safeguard against similar matters occurring.

The inquiry noted GOTAFE had already commenced a thorough transformation process that has so
far included appointing a new acting CEO while conducting an extensive search for permanent

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replacement, as well as commencing the recruitment process for two new board members. GOTAFE
has also made a number of new senior executive appointments over the past few months including
appointing a new Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer and Executive Manager Human
Resources.

The inquiry set out a suite of recommendations for the GOTAFE to take further action to ensure it is
able to meet the high standards of integrity and governance expected of Victoria’s publicly-owned
TAFE institutes. Key recommendations include the Department appointing an independent
governance adviser to GOTAFE, who will support the GOTAFE board to improve organisational
capability and regularly report back to the Department Secretary on GOTAFE’s governance.

The inquiry also found that GOTAFE should work with the Department to improve GOTAFE’s
understanding of its compliance responsibilities, and work with other TAFEs to share knowledge and
improve capabilities.

GOTAFE has already commenced valuable collaborations with Box Hill Institute of TAFE to support its
governance capability which demonstrates the vital role of the TAFE network. The Department will
support GOTAFE to address inquiry recommendations and its mission to be a provider of choice of
the local community.

It is expected that GOTAFE will be able to meet the high standards of integrity and governance
expected of Victoria’s TAFE institutes, enabling GOTAFE to continue to deliver on its mission of
delivering high quality vocational education and training.

THE GOTAFE INQUIRY REPORT

REPORT
It is not the Government’s intention to release the GOTAFE inquiry report for the following reasons:

• Privacy and confidentiality

Extensive consultation was conducted with the staff and board members and their full
cooperation was assured through an undertaking that information provided in the course of
that consultation would be treated confidentially. They were further assured that public
disclosure of information would only occur where the Department was legally obliged to do
so.
• Commercial considerations
The inquiry considered matters of a commercial-in-confidence nature and these are
reflected in the report. It is not appropriate to publically disclose this information.