WATER INDUSTRY CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT WATER (WICD) CONFERENCE

摘要

The first national conference since the inception of WICD in July 2006 bought together eighty delegates from a range of backgrounds in the water industry and tertiary education sector, including water utilities, universities, private consultants, state and commonwealth government departments. The focus of the conference was on the skills shortage and strategies for building capacity, both at the organisational level, and industry wide. The WICD conference broke into two concurrent streams: Learning and Development (covering both vocational and higher education) and Human Resources. Keynote Speaker, Ken Matthews (National Water Commission) spoke about issues of national importance for the water industry including the skills shortage. Ken presented the very recent outcomes from the National Water Skills Forum held in Canberra on 17th March, which was attended by approximately 70 CEO/Senior representatives from a range of industry stakeholder groups. Ken spoke about the way forward for tackling skills issues of national significance collectively, the formation of a Skills Task Force and Industry Coordinating Body to lead the industry-wide effort and address the shared National Action Plan.