The scholarship, worth $45,000 over three years, is enabling Kate to study a Bachelor of Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management (BTHEM) at TAFE SA’s Barossa Campus.

“The scholarship was a gamechanger for me because it meant that financially I could leave full-time work to study my passions in the tourism, hospitality and event management industries,” Kate says.

Funded through the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Education, the Destination Australia program is designed to encourage people to live and study in regional Australia, while also addressing skills shortages.

TAFE SA offered scholarships for the BTHEM in the Barossa Valley last year and will be offering further opportunities in 2024 for both domestic and international students.

Scholarship recipients are required to study full-time at the TAFE SA Campus in Nuriootpa and to reside in the Barossa Valley.

For Kate, who was already a Barossa Valley resident and studying the Diploma of Event Management at TAFE SA’s Regency Campus, the scholarship provided the opportunity to further her studies and pursue a newly discovered passion.

“I did some volunteering at last year’s Adelaide Fringe and that really sparked my decision to move into the events management industry,” she says.

“I loved working at the Fringe and it opened my eyes to different career opportunities.”

The BTHEM program provides students with a great understanding of the co-dependency of tourism, hospitality and events and has been designed in consultation with all three industry sectors.

Through the course, Kate says she’s started to build a network of industry contacts and gained “practical and hands-on experiences” at events in South Australia, and she will again be volunteering at Adelaide Fringe 2024.

“I feel that I have been able to reflect the skills I’ve learnt from BTHEM so far, practically into the industry,” she says.

At the Barossa Valley Campus, she says she appreciates the smaller class sizes and “the one-on-one time that we have with our lecturers”.

“I’m also enjoying being in a class with various cultures and I have made some life-long friends with similar interests which has also been a highlight,” she says.

TAFE SA is offering five Destination Australia scholarships for domestic students to undertake the BTHEM in the Barossa Valley, commencing in Semester 2, 2024. There are also 20 scholarships available for international students to study the BTHEM at the Barossa Campus.

Valued at $15,000 per student per year, the scholarships are paid in semester-based instalments. For details on how to apply, visit the TAFE SA website.