Ryde TAFE - The Technical and Future
Education Institute of Ryde Australia.
In my travels here, I came to understand that the TAFE institutes of
Australia provide educational opportunities similar to those provided in
vocational programs at community colleges in California. In my meetings at
botanical gardens, nurseries and with other educators, I kept hearing of the
Ryde TAFE. The Ryde TAFE is located on the outskirts of Sydney and after
hearing from a former graduate of the program that the Ryde TAFE was the largest
horticulture program in the southern hemisphere, I was skeptical and had to see
for myself.
I arrived on a Monday afternoon and located the horticulture program at the
back of the campus down a long sloping road. I approached one instructor
in a lab class working with students practicing brick masonry and was directed
to a "Head Teachers" office (the Head Teacher there is the equivalent of
my position of Program Coordinator.) There I met Andrew Morrissey, the
Head Teacher for the Landscape Design portion of the horticulture program.
The ensuing conversation and tour has left me humbled. I believe Cuyamaca
College has an outstanding horticulture program with 20 dedicated adjunct
faculty in addition to support staff and student interns. In contrast, the
Ryde TAFE horticulture program has about 1500 students, 60 FULL-TIME
instructors, 5 Head Teachers, a Dean for the Horticulture Program, adjunct
faculty, 5 two-story classroom buildings, about 20,000 sq. ft. of glasshouse
space and 4000-5000 sq. ft. of shade house area. And this did not include
the "Annex" a couple of miles from campus where many of their It is truly
amazing to see that size of horticulture operation.
After talking to Mr. Morrissey, I could not believe the statistics, but a
walk through the facility bore out his estimates. I observed about a dozen
classes in session on that Monday afternoon, many of them in detailed hands-on
labs.
The following photos show a portion of this amazing program.
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Ryde TAFE Map of Horticulture Unit
This is a portion of the campus map showing the horitculture facilities from the turf areas at the top to classrooms at the bottom. |
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Andrew Morrissey - Head Teacher for Landscape Design
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Turf Lab Class
Students establishing turf plots |
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Turf Lab
Test Plots |
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Signs to Classroom Buildings in Horticulture Unit
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Lawn Bowling Green in Turf Unit
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Fairway Approach to Green in Turf Unit
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Grass Tennis Court in Turf Unit
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Weather Station in Turf Unit
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Greenhouse #1
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Portion of Greenhouses
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More Greenhouses
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Inside One Greenhouse
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Looking Into Greenhouse #9
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Another Greenhouse on the Inside
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Indoor Plant Greenhouse
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One of Shadehouse Areas
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Lab on Construction Materials
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Cleaning Up After Masonry Lab
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Nursery Lab
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Lab on Pruning Tools
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Portion of Tool/Equipment Storage Area
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One of the Storage/Staging Areas
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Lab Staging and Storage for Floral Design
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Computer Room
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Outside Walkway
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Walkway Between Classrooms
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Lily Pond in Native Plant Area
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Picnic Area
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Student Lounge Area
This was one of several student lounge areas. It was located on the second floor of one of the classroom buildings next to an atrium. |
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Outside Student Lounge Area
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