Kate’s graduate year included rotations in International Group and Industry Skills and Quality Group. She really enjoyed her second rotation role providing secretariat support to an Advisory Group of government and industry representatives.

What university did you attend?

Australian National University, University of Canberra and Australian Catholic University

What is your qualification?

Bachelor of Arts (International Relations); Graduate Diploma of English Language Teaching and Community Development; Master of Social Work

Where are you from originally?

Nethercote – a locality just outside of Eden on the far south coast of New South Wales.

What areas of the department did you work in during your graduate year?

My first rotation was in International Group. I worked mainly in Cluster and Group Support and did a short stint in the Scholarships section. My second rotation, and where I stayed at the conclusion of the programme, was in the Industry Skills and Quality Group, where I worked in the Work based Training and Apprenticeships Policy section.

What type of work did you do?

I worked as a learning and development officer in Cluster and Group Support. My role involved assisting to organise and manage learning and development priorities for staff in the Cluster.

As a programme officer with the Scholarships Section I assisted with the opening of the New Colombo Plan scholarship round. I supported tender processes and IT testing, developed and reviewed supporting material for universities and students and assessed applications.

During my rotation in the Industry Skills and Quality Group I worked as a policy officer. I provided secretariat support for an advisory group appointed by the then Assistant Minister, prepared ministerial correspondence, briefings, submissions and other policy documents, and also helped to prepare new policy proposals.

What was the highlight of your graduate year?

I had only been in my second rotation for a short time when the then Assistant Minister for Education and Training called together an Advisory Group of government and industry representatives to provide advice on targeted areas for apprenticeships policy reform. Providing secretariat support for this group was a really exciting piece of work to be involved in and a fantastic introduction to policy work. I got to work on a whole range of things, including coordinating logistics, researching and producing meeting papers, drafting Ministerial briefings and synthesising Advisory group member perspectives into summary papers and a recommendation report. I stayed with the team after the graduate programme concluded and it has been gratifying to see how the work I was involved in during the rotation has then fed into future reform considerations.