If you were planning to go to university, you completed Year 12 and the Higher School Certificate.

But if you had your eye on a trade, you left at the end of Year 10 and looked for an apprenticeship that would also see you heading off to what is now TAFE.

Thankfully, in the decades since I left the classroom, educational opportunities have vastly expanded. People have so many more opportunities now, and learning is increasingly life-long.

Over the years, there has been a lot of tinkering with how education is provided in this country, but one thing hasn't changed: The TAFE system has always delivered the bulk of vocational training.

With that in mind, it is hard not to be wary in the extreme when the Premier announces she's enlisted David Gonski and Peter Shergold to review TAFE.

On the face of it, the review sounds promising. The press release announcing it begins: "The NSW Government is making sure we have a world-class TAFE and training system that delivers more qualified tradies for the workplaces of the future".

"We want students to think of TAFE the same way they think of university, as a leading institution for furthering their education and gaining the skills of the future," Ms Berejiklian is quoted as saying.

"For some new high-tech and high-end jobs, TAFE could become a better option for students than university.

"We need more tradies in existing trades, but we also need to prepare workers in new areas like 3D printing, robotics and other technology industries to provide the jobs of the future in places like the Western Sydney Aerotropolis and the Sydney Tech Hub.

"This review will consider initiatives like a HECS-style program for TAFE students, greater industry involvement in co-designing courses and making sure courses are as up-to-date as possible."

Aside from a fleeting concern that the Premier has forgotten there are more places than Sydney requiring skilled employees in the future, the planned review seems to promise a much-needed boost for vocational training.

But, as we all know, the devil will be in the detail.

Recent experiences have taught us that this is a government that likes the cash boost that comes from selling off infrastructure. It's a little hard to imagine that a review which comes back recommending the government plough money into building up TAFE would be welcomed.

According to the Premier, TAFE NSW is the largest vocational training provider in the country, with a budget of $1.85 billion in 2019-20.

It is a highly respected and long-established organisation that not only provides vocational training, but it delivers this training in regional areas.

One of the biggest concerns for many students considering university is that it can mean a move far away from family and friends.

With a string of TAFE campuses across regional centres, young tradies are likely to be able to find the course they want to do much closer to home.

Those regional campuses also often provide a valuable social point in areas where isolation can cause issues in a world that too often relies on online communication.

We hear a lot about the shortage of doctors in regional areas, and one of the reasons for establishing a rural medical school is because those people who train in the country, tend to then stay in the country.

Surely then, we could apply the same logic and assume that tradies-in-training who have worked and studied in regional areas might also want to stay there, helping to guard regional areas against a future skills shortage?

The government has a chance with this review of TAFE to really invest in the institution and help to make sure it genuinely remains the first port of call for apprentices looking to get their qualifications.