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Gus Gilmore, the CEO of soon to be disestablished national vocational training provider Te Pūkenga, has been meeting with major partners to reassure them over the future of programmes they are supporting.
Te Pūkenga forged a series of such partnerships with organisations including Apple, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft as well as the New Zealand Air Force, Fonterra, Air New Zealand and the Ministry of Social Development.
Responding to a question about the future of the partnerships in August, Gilmore told Parliament’s education and workforce committee Te Pūkenga had been meeting with its partners to explain what was happening to vocational education and training in New Zealand.
“Obviously, the domestic-based ones have a much greater understanding of what’s going on,” Gilmore said, according to a transcript of the committee hearing published last month.
“I met with the vice-president from Apple for Asia Pacific three weeks ago in Unitec and they were quite concerned.
“We explained and talked them through what the changes meant and reassured them that our delivery on the ground and that really important programme we have with them in Northland will continue.”
Te Pūkenga had developed strong links with AWS, Microsoft, Apple, Datacom and Te Whatu Ora to develop learning pathways into the digital and technology sectors.
In Auckland, for instance, two different micro-credentials had been launched to support Māori and Pacific ākonga with skills and knowledge to join the digital workforce.
Meetings were also held with the Defence Force and Corrections, who are major Te Pūkenga customers and wanted to understand the implications of the changes.
“So it’s just a case of bringing some of those key stakeholders who aren’t close to tertiary education up to speed with exactly what’s going on,” Gilmore told the committee.
“And we continue to reassure, confidently, that we’ll continue to deliver for them on the ground.”
Te Pūkenga is being replaced with eight to ten regional education providers. It is currently rolling out a new $5.7 million financial management system from Technology One for those regional entities.