RMIT welcomes Federal Minister to City campus for Earn and Learn showcase

RMIT welcomes Federal Minister to City campus for Earn and Learn showcase

The University was honoured to welcome Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, The Hon. Amanda Rishworth MP, to the City campus last week.

The Minister heard from a number of RMIT’s senior leaders and program experts on the University’s various industry-based learning models, called ‘Earn and Learn’. 

After the presentations, the Minister met with several students who undertook of one of RMIT’s ‘Earn and Learn’ programs, a Commonwealth-supported Free Diploma in IT for Women. 

Finally, the Minister was then taken on a tour of City campus, seeing the City North Social Innovation Precinct after the recent opening of the Metro Tunnel saw the removal of the longstanding construction site at the north end of Bowen Street. RMIT’s vision for City North is to transform the area into a world leading social innovation precinct.

27 February 2026

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University staff, including Mish Eastman and Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, with the minister.

Earn and Learn at RMIT

‘Earn and Learn’ is part of RMIT's response to the Australian Universities Accord, which called for significant reform to the tertiary education system to create new pathways and models of education for different stages of life.  

Mish Eastman, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Vocational Education at RMIT, said that industry-based models had already seen successful outcomes at RMIT.

“From offering Free Diplomas for women in IT, to working with 79 Local Councils to retrain and upskill their workforce and offering a vocational and higher education qualification to Mechanical Engineering students, RMIT’s ‘Earn and Learn’ model has already seen great outcomes,” she said.

Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, Deputy Vice-Chancellor STEM at RMIT, said the ‘Earn and Learn’ model was being implemented across a number of areas in STEM College. 

“Alongside the Mechanical Engineering dual-degree pathway we have implemented alongside our colleagues in Vocational Education, we are proud to be delivering Queensland’s first nuclear medicine degree, which has recently expanded into Western Australia, and an Earn and Learn model for Computer Science students, with much more to come,” she said.

“It was wonderful to be able to have the Minister visit our campus, meet our students and program experts, and showcase our leadership in industry-based learning models – already so successful overseas – in Australia.”

The University is helping shape a new tertiary education system to better address Australia’s critical skills shortages and provide education opportunities for those who need to work alongside their studies.

Co-designed and delivered with RMIT’s industry partners, ‘Earn and Learn’ represents a win-win for employers and students, giving students valuable paid work experience and allowing industry to help shape the skills of the next generation of professionals.

Find out more about Earn and Learn at RMIT.

 

Story: Finn Devlin

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27 February 2026

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