Waikato Business News August/September 2020

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS August/September 2020
New Zealand’s border
is currently closed
- well not exactly!
5
Stephen Town at the powhiri for his new role
Institute chief to
drive change in
vocational training
The man charged with leading an ambitious amalgamation of the
vocational training sector takes up the role at a challenging time
with a student influx likely as Covid-19 bites.
Chief executive Stephen
Town will join a small
team at Wintec House,
as the newly formed NZ Institute
of Skills and Technology
sets out on a path of bringing
the country’s polytechnics into
one organisation while also
folding in the industry training
organisations.
It represents a radical
shift from a competitive to
a collaborative model, and
Town says it will also create
one of the larger tertiary
entities in the world.
The choice of Hamilton for
NZIST’s head office marks
a symbolic victory for the
region, and a sign of the city’s
growing appeal, rather than a
major economic boost, as the
office at Wintec House will
have small numbers.
“The aim is that our head
office is very slim and doesn’t
have a lot of people in it
because what we’ve got to
try and do is make use of the
resources that are throughout
the country, right through
our network of polytechs and
institutes of technology,”
Town says.
The executive team has
a formidable job ahead of it
reforming the vocational education
system. “That’s something
that is very relevant
in New Zealand right now -
Covid has made that even more
so, because the prediction is
there will be a big increase
in demand for retraining and
short courses and people looking
at maybe switching careers
over the next year or so,”
Town says.
“So that means we’re going
to be busier, and we’ve got to
be ready to meet those needs.”
A letter of expectation
from the Minister of
Education outlines short-term
priorities, including working
up an implementation plan for
learners to come across into
NZIST from the industry training
organisations (ITOs).
The institute will also be
contributing to the design of
a unified funding system for
tertiary education in the vocational
education and industry
training space, and it must
co-design an operating model
for the new entity to be implemented
by the end of 2022.
“And we have to get the
network ready to continue with
work-based learning, online
learning, face to face learning
and a blend of those things,”
Town says. “Again, Covid
has given us a big kickstart
to changing the way learning
takes place, when you’re in
lockdown, and you’ve got to
move to an online environment.
And all of the polytechnics
will be engaging in that
over the next couple of years.”
The new operating model
will see polytechs and institutes
of technology, currently
limited liability subsidiaries
of NZIST, cease to exist by
the end of 2022, at which time
they will be replaced by a single
network of integrated provision
across New Zealand.
The new entity in 2023
will, by one estimate Town
has heard, become the world’s
36th largest tertiary institution.
“And we go from there,”
he says. “The whole idea is to
make our system more learner
centered. Rather than convenient
for the institution, make
it more convenient for learners,
with a bigger variety of
delivery methods.”
Town is well placed to
manage the change, as a
former chief executive of
Wanganui Polytechnic and,
most recently, a six and
a half year stint as chief
executive of Auckland City.
His polytechnic stint coincided
with the sector’s last
major upheaval. He saw the
transformation from community
colleges to polytechnics,
the introduction of bulk
funding around 1990 and
the introduction of the student-based
funding system in
the early 90s. “So competition
was introduced when I was in
the sector. That competition
has largely continued for 25
years.”
While that stint gave him
familiarity with the vocational
training sector, his most recent
Auckland position is arguably
more important.
“I think one of the reasons
I was chosen for the role is
my experience in bringing the
Auckland supercity together,”
he says. “That is bringing different
entities together into an
integrated single organization.
The CCOs in Auckland are not
dissimilar to the subsidiary
polytechs that we’ve got now
in the IST entity.”
Five of seven members of
the executive team will live
in Hamilton, and that includes
Town who will shift from
Auckland after Christmas.
Top executives have
been recruited over the past
weeks, and will begin arriving
over the next month or
two as they finish in their former
roles. At least two have
strong Waikato connections:
Merran Davis was formerly
dean at Wintec and is currently
interim chief executive
at Unitec, and Vaughan
Payne arrives from a position
as chief executive at
Waikato Regional Council.
Level 2
586 Victoria Street
Hamilton 3204
In New Zealand, there isn't a
day that goes by without us
thinking about our ability to
move around our city, region,
and the country. Dreams of
international travel for a holiday
or to see clients and suppliers
are just that, dreams
because for the time being the
New Zealand border is effectively
closed.
So, at a time like this, why is
our company Pathways to New
Zealand, an immigration advisory
firm, so busy? One of the
reasons is because we are flat
out getting people across the
border and into New Zealand.
Now, before that last statement
raises the eyebrows too
much, it is vital to make the
point that the people we are
helping across the border are
those with particular family
circumstances and those with
very specialist technical skills
or experience.
Pathways has expertise
and experience in assisting
with the visa requirements of
overseas doctors and medical
specialists. While there have
been additional challenges in
getting such medical expertise
through the border, the shortage
of such knowledge, and the
demands arising from COVID-
19 throughout New Zealand,
have seen the demand for visas
and border entry for medical
staff remain strong.
The border closure also
caught many people by surprise,
couples, and families,
who normally would be living
together in New Zealand, have
become separated and have
been unable to be reunited.
Then in June, the Government
introduced clear criteria
defining “other critical workers”,
as 'high-value workers on
projects of national or regional
significance’. To date, about
30 percent of critical worker
requests are being approved,
the leading industry sectors
represented in these approvals
are construction, manufacturing,
film/TV, and sport.
Cast your mind back to the
start of the year, unemployment
is at 4 percent, and business
was looking to skilled migrants
supplementing their existing
workforce to deliver business
growth and upcoming planned
projects.
Six months later things have
changed. Those in tourism and
hospitality are doing it hard,
and sectors like education are
pivoting to meet the demands
of domestic rather than international
students. But those
skilled workers we wanted in
January are still be needed. We
have significant national infrastructure
projects requiring
attention, aged care, health sector
reform, agribusiness, housing
and construction, manufacturing,
and the tech sector to
name but a few. All these projects
and industries need skilled
workers. The question remains,
Level 3
50 Manners Street
Wellington 6011
who is going to do the work?
The threshold is understandably
high to bring critical
workers across the border.
However, if you have significant
and time-critical business
plans that are being frustratingly
thwarted by a lack of
skills and technical expertise,
then you may still be able to
get these skills across the border.
More than ever, your businesses
and New Zealand needs
these people here working for
our benefit, and it is our job
here at Pathways to work with
the business community to
help that happen.
One last point that's worth
considering we are also busy
servicing unprecedented levels
of enquiry for investor immigration
requiring an investment
of either $10 million or $3 million…
but that is another story!
07 834 9222
enquiries@pathwaysnz.com
NZIST will be based at Wintec House
pathwaysnz.com