Media release from IST Establishment
On 1 August 2019, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the Government’s decisions on the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) proposals. One of the seven key changes is to create a new kind of organisation that will provide work-based, off-the-job, and online vocational learning and training right across the country.
With a working name of the New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology, the Institute will be a sustainable, national network of regionally accessible vocational education and training. It will start by bringing together the existing 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics, and over time will develop the capability to support work-based, provider-based and online learning in a unified system.
If the legislation(external link) is passed as described, the Institute will be New Zealand’s largest tertiary education provider. It will have the national and regional reach required to become a long-term skills training partner for firms and industries, enabling learners and employers to move between workplaces and other educational offerings and between locations as their needs change.
An organisation with learners at the centre needs a name that reflects its identity – where it has come from and where it is going. The IST Establishment Board is charged with recommending a name and brand for the new Institute to the Minister of Education. The video below captures the essence of the journey to date, including a preferred name.
Before finalising its recommendation to the Minister, the Board will be inviting everyone to have their say online from 14 February to 8 March.
Have a look at the video below: