Inquiry, security for abandoned Melb TAFE

Security guards will monitor an abandoned Melbourne TAFE site after an independent inquiry was ordered into reports confidential student records were left behind.

Training Minister Steve Herbert has told his department to secure the Kangan TAFE on Dawson Street in Coburg North, including any records left on the site.

The now-derelict site has been closed since Kangan moved its automotive training centre to Docklands in 2011.

It has become a hot spot for vandals who have graffitied walls, started fires, smashed windows and strewn paperwork about.

Confidential student files are among the paperwork, a local newspaper has reported.

A state government spokesman said it was "totally unacceptable that the site has been left to get to the state it is in".

"Both security and tradespeople have been out at the site and the minister has also personally visited and spoken with local shop owners," he said.

"He's also ordered an independent inquiry into what occurred."

A Department of Education spokeswoman said each TAFE institute had its own procedures for vacating a site.

She also confirmed security guards were put in place and the department was investigating whether student documents were left behind.