Illawarra TAFE students, teachers and community members are invited to a forum in Wollongong on Tuesday as part of a statewide campaign to stop cuts to the sector.
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Federal Higher Education and Skills Minister Sharon Bird and NSW Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron are among the speakers at the event at Wollongong City Council's function room from 11am to noon.
TAFE Community Alliance spokeswoman Linda Simon said the group was holding a range of forums and lectures to let communities know how cuts to TAFE NSW would affect them.
"We want to assist communities to understand the impact of the changes being proposed for TAFE NSW by the state government," Ms Simon said.
"TAFE is already reeling from funding cuts and we hold many concerns about the proposed Smart and Skilled reforms to be introduced [in July 2014], which will set up a competitive training market in NSW.
"We are concerned these cuts and reforms will mean that TAFE colleges will be forced to cut courses, that entire campuses could close and that certainly there will be a reduced offering for a broad range of students.
"We're also concerned that if NSW follows the same pattern as Victorian TAFEs [where similar reforms have been introduced] then it will also mean a reduction in the quality of education offered to students."
Under Smart and Skilled, TAFE NSW institutes would be forced to compete with private training providers for students, with the funding going to the college in which students enrol.
Only those courses the government considers to be in "skills shortage" areas will be eligible for subsidies.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli this week announced the start of industry consultations to develop the 2014 NSW Skills List.
Terry Keeley, NSW Teachers Federation TAFE organiser for the Illawarra Institute, said he was worried about the limited nature of the consultations.
"It's important to get the feedback of industry but I'm not sure we want to base the future of our vocational education and training sector on their narrow interests," he said.
"We have a TAFE system that's world renowned and we're talking about dismantling it and changing it for very specific, very narrow interests - and who knows what skills will be needed in five, 10 years time, it's just crystal ball gazing.
"We're relying on government to decide what skills and training are needed - the experts who have worked and trained in the provision of education for many years are not being consulted."
However, Mr Piccoli said the skills list would be based on "industry needs, skills shortages and labour market trends" and as such "industry intelligence and feedback are a key part of this process".
Consultations with industry and business will be held across the state until June 7, with a range of meetings organised in the Illawarra on May 27 and 28.
These will be by invitation only, although the general public can participate through the government's Have Your Say website at www.nsw.gov.au/haveyoursay.
