Back-office jobs will be slashed and TAFE campuses sold off in a multimillion dollar restructure of TAFE that NSW Minister for Skills John Barilaro calls a "once-in-a-generation reform".

Ten autonomous institutes within TAFE will be merged into a single, multi-campus entity, and a new digital education headquarters created in regional NSW to deliver more online and in-workplace training in a move the government says will expand TAFE's reach and reverse the huge recent decline in enrolments.

It comes after years of turmoil in the vocational education sector where state government reforms and funding contestability have been blamed for driving more than 100,000 students away and for over 5000 jobs lost from the 125-year-old public institution.

Mr Barilaro said the reforms would give beleaguered TAFE staff a vision of the organisation's future.