Myer Kangan (12 July 1917 – 4 October 1991) was an Australian public servant and educationist, who is considered the founder of the

technical and further education Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

(TAFE) system after he conducted an inquiry into technical education in Australia on behalf of the Whitlam government. Kangan was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Queensland in 1917 and was of Russian Jewish descent. He attended

Brisbane State High School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , city = South Brisbane , state = Queensland , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Public, selective, co-educational, secondary, ...

, and then graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

. He joined the Commonwealth public service during World War II on an aircraft design project, and later joined the Department of Labour. In 1973, the federal minister for education,

Kim Beazley Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. He was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet ...

, agreed to a proposal by the Technical Teachers' Association of Australia (TTTA) to hold an inquiry into technical education in Australia. Beazley convened the Australian Committee on Technical and Further Education (ACOTAFE), and appointed Kangan—then a senior public servant with the Department of Labour—as the chair. The Kangan Report, produced in 1974, provided a blueprint for the development of TAFE systems across the country over the next fifteen years, and emphasised individual development and free choice of vocational needs. After his retirement, Kangan founded the Jewish Centre on Ageing in Sydney, for elderly members of the Jewish community to continue living in a traditional manner outside of nursing homes. He died of heart disease on 4 October 1991, aged 74. The Victorian TAFE college

Kangan Institute Kangan Institute is a TAFE (technical and further education) provider in Melbourne, Australia. History Kangan Institute was established as the Broadmeadows College of TAFE on 28 February 1986, when it was formally opened by Prime Minister Bob ...

was named after him in honour of his contribution to technical and further education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kangan, Myer 1917 births 1991 deaths Australian public servants Australian educational theorists Technical and further education Australian people of Russian-Jewish descent Australian Jews University of Queensland alumni Officers of the Order of Australia Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Brisbane State High School