But TAFE Western institute director Kate Baxter told the Central Western Daily those concerns were now at ease.

She believes yesterday’s first steps towards building the $3.4 million Aboriginal learning centre meant TAFE in Orange was  “here to stay”.

“The TAFE institute has a very strong presence in western New South Wales, we are obviously of the opinion we are here to stay as a quality provider for people in the central western region and we’re looking into ways to improve the learning facilities for our students,” she said.

It was a sentiment shared by member for Orange Andrew Gee. He said the funding was a welcome boost for the region.

“TAFE Western certainly has a future and the fact we’re spending millions of dollars on a facility like this shows that NSW government is still investing in TAFE and this a very tangible way in which we’re doing it,” he said.

Mrs Baxter said TAFE had put in nearly six years of preparation for the new learning centre and said it was a red letter day for the industry.

Some of the benefits of the new centre include a clinical nurse training facility, an early childhood services training facility and also facilities for dentistry learning.

“The finished product will provide us with a specialist facility for Aboriginal learners and if we can increase the number of people in our community trained and qualified in those areas, Aboriginal people, that will make a significant contribution to their broader community, not just here in Orange but right across western NSW,” she said.

Mrs Baxter said another highlight of the learning facility will be technology to link students from different universities.

“Video conference facilities will allow us to be a place of connection between different generations - between the campus and the broader community - and between the Aboriginal students and learning opportunities at TAFE,” she said.

Yesterday marked the beginning of work at the March Street site. Work is expected to be completed by July, 2013.