Transforming vocational education and training

By way of context… New Zealand is roughly the same size as Great Britain It has only 4 million people In general, the population is ageing; but Maori and Pacific populations are youthful and growing, as are Asian peoples through migration

Economically… New Zealand depends heavily on overseas trade, especially on markets for primary products There has been strong growth for several years Unemployment is very low Most firms are very small Skill shortages and deficits are endemic Distance from the rest of the world is a reality

And some context about tertiary education… Tertiary education covers all learning that takes place after people have left school There is an extensive network of provision across the country

Some numbers to complete the picture… NZ$4 billion – the Governments total expenditure on tertiary education 504,000 – the number of students enrolled in tertiary education in % - the participation rate of people aged 15 to – the total number of qualifications on the NZ Register of Quality Assured Qualifications, of which about 1000 are national qualifications and the balance are local

With tertiary education offered by… 8 universities 20 polytechnics and institutes of technology 3 wananga more than 800 registered private training establishments 41 industry training organisations

There has been a major reform every 2 years, but there are three main phases… the 1980s – characterised by dependence the 1990s – characterised by independence the period since 2000 – characterised by interdependence

Much has been achieved. What we need now is to … retain the gains in participation at the lower levels of the qualifications ladder, especially for those with limited foundation skills increase the proportion of learners participating and achieving at higher levels further improve equity of access and achievement enhance links with business and industry, and demonstrate tertiary educations contribution to economic transformation

Getting there will mean… gaining agreement about the specific responsibility of tertiary education to support economic transformation achieving political consensus about what this means in practice shifting the focus of providers from competition to collaboration, seeing themselves as part of a wider network building capability - within providers, within government agencies, and within stakeholder groups

So the current reform agenda looks for an integrated approach that includes… more articulate and capable stakeholders or users of tertiary education, able to say what they need in a way that leads to a clearer expression of government expectations and priorities, in turn leading to a partnership approach to provider planning, with each provider focused on their contribution to an overall network of provision, and then funding that facilitates delivery of each providers agreed plan, followed by transparent performance measurement to inform stakeholders, and through them, the next planning cycle

Challenges will include… improving data quality building an evidence base for decision-making making quality assurance transparent building capability

So why will it work? New Zealands size, which provides scope for negotiated approaches to work The diversity of provision that now exists, which supports current levels of participation across widely varying needs A culture of consultation and engagement, which offers the chance for prior buy-in from all of the key players A sense that the time is right to move to a system that reconciles student demand with wider regional and national goals