Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced the ten new Trades Academies, which are to open around New Zealand from 2012, providing practical skills training for secondary school students while allowing them to study for NCEA credits and tertiary qualifications. Mrs Tolley also announced this week that Christchurch is to have [...]

Te Tai Poutini Polytechnic is receiving an additional $750 million funding from Minister Steven Joyce after changing its name to the South Western Motorway. Outgoing chief executive Paul Wilson said that once the polytechnic registered itself as a road of national significance (RONS) rather than a tertiary education institution it [...]

Further earthquakes, this time in the midst of exams for many students and staff, have shaken Christchurch and its many tertiary institutions. The University of Canterbury was still working last night to assess the structural integrity of all its buildings and was in the process of rescheduling and relocating many [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 14 No 3 Polytechnics and one wānanga were big losers in this year’s Government’s Student Achievement Component (SAC) funding for the tertiary education sector. Figures released last year from the Tertiary Education Commission show that eight polytechnics will receive less SAC money this year than last. The [...]

Tai Poutini Polytechnic Collective Agreement Bargaining 2010 Hello TEU Members Your negotiation team Simon Dixon, Maureen Simpson and Phil Oxenham and I met with the Polytechnic representatives Lisa Mills, Colin McDonnell and Alan Sargison on 28 and 29 May 2010. The Employer claims consisted of: Claim Status Create a new [...]

Tertiary Update, Vol 13 No 10 Social welfare minister Paula Bennett’s proposed new welfare programme, Future Focus, will have implications for the tertiary education sector. Minister Bennett proposes the removal of negotiation from Job Seeker Agreements and Youth Activity Plans for young people receiving the Independent Youth Benefit (IYB). This [...]

The Greymouth Star reports that three senior managers at Tai Poutini Polytechnic have been made redundant. The jobs losses are the result of phase one of a reorganisation of the polytechnic, which will see the creation of five new positions and the disestablishment of six. Phase two, which focuses on [...]

27 May 2009 First PaEE review reports! I have now received completed PaEE review reports and action plans from Otago Polytechnic and Tai Poutini Polytechnic. Well done to both! I also expect to receive reports from UCOL and NMIT this week, and Telford and Waiāriki next week. Once these reports [...]

Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) is a finalist in five out of the six categories in the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand (ITPNZ) annual awards 2009. The winners of each of the six categories will be announced on 10 June at ITPNZ’s 2009 conference, ‘Skilling New Zealand’s [...]

Pay and employment equity (PaEE) reviews are progressing well in the tertiary-education sector, with five institutes of technology and polytechnics, Otago, Telford, Waiāriki, NMIT, and UCOL, and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa all scheduled to have their pay and employment equity review reports and action plans finalised by the end of [...]