February 13, 2019
Shake up for vocational training
Education Minister Chris Hipkins wants to shake up vocational training.
Proposals released today include bringing together the 16 existing Industry Training Organisations as a one entity with the working title of the New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology, redefining roles for education providers and industry bodies to extend the leadership role of industry and employers, and creating a unified vocational education funding system.
Mr Hipkins says the aims is for school leavers to get high quality training opportunities, employers to get the skills they need and New Zealanders to be better equipped for the changing nature of work.
He says at a time the country is facing critical skill shortages, too many of polytechnics and institutes of technology are going broke.
Instead of polytech's retrenching, cutting programmes, and closing campuses, they need to expand their course delivery in more locations around the country.
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