Don’t start from scratch 

Bring your skills with you. Only study what you need to. The skills and knowledge you have gained through working, volunteering or studying can give you a head start in your TAFE NSW course.  

Scholarships.  You deserve the chance to create a better future. We offer hundreds of different sorts of scholarships so you can benefit from education and training. 

Career counselling. The TAFE NSW Counselling and Career Development Service is free, and is designed to help you succeed in your studies and your career. 

It can be a quick-fix 

Identify a skill you need. Focus. Nail it! 

Short courses. TAFE NSW has hundreds of short courses - including online short courses - from essential licencing requirements to the skills and tools to make the next step. 

Micro-credentials. Study subjects from a TAFE NSW Degree. Micro-credentials are the degree-level, bite-sized course your career needs. 

Now is a good time! 

If you are you 35 or older, are looking for work and wanting to retrain or upgrade your skills, you may be eligible for a fee-free place in a TAFE NSW course. 

Mature-Age Workers Scholarships are linked to skills shortages. Courses are at a range of levels, so you can choose the best fit for you.  

The sky’s the limit 

Angela Plaisted built management and marketing foundations at TAFE NSW, and then went on to refine her skills and progress her career in one of the world’s largest professional services firms. 

Angela graduated with a Diploma of Business (Marketing). Angela’s time at TAFE NSW helped her progress from basic clerical roles to a position at Ernst & Young. But it wasn’t a pathway to just any job at EY. Angela is the Global Program Manager of EY’s Entrepreneur of The Year – the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs.  

“I loved studying and enjoyed the sense of achievement,” says Angela. “I deeply appreciated the expertise and real-world experience of my teachers.” 

Don’t be afraid to own it 

Sometimes climbing a career means taking ownership of it.

Smash repairers Jay and John completed courses in Autobody Repair (Jay) and the Vehicle Painting (John) at TAFE NSW, and decided to combine their passions and became business partners of Mid City Smash Repairs in Dubbo. 

“John and I both had ambitions to own our own business and with two complementary trades it made sense,” Jay says. “We’ve now been business partners for almost seven years.” 

“I loved going to TAFE NSW because I got to learn other skills and get exposure to different aspects of the trade.” 

Uni can just be the start 

About 40,000 university graduates study at TAFE NSW each year. From software to industry practices and connections, career-specific skills add value to university study.  

Joshua McLinden had an engineering degree, but wanted to progress to being a design engineer. His TAFE Digital course in Water Operations gave him the skills and qualification he needed.  

Sometimes support comes in simple ways. A large part of his success, Joshua says, was that he simply found TAFE Digital interfaces familiar and easy to use. 

After filling the gap in his education, Joshua moved up in his career. 

Course to career boost