Meeting the milestone

Meeting the milestone

Last updated 21 February 2020
Last updated 21 February 2020

What will RoVE look like on 1 April?

In a legal sense, institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) will become subsidiaries of the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (Te Pūkenga) (working name) and Boards of Directors will replace Commissioners. Industry training organisations (ITOs) will become Transitional ITOs.

All existing employment agreements, Memorandums of Understanding, and contracts for goods and services will be transferred seamlessly. All current Academic Boards become sub-committees of the Te Pūkenga’s Academic Board, and the new NZQA Rules will come into effect to reflect the changes in legal status of ITPs and ITOs.

For Te Pūkenga, it’s likely that the location and name decisions will have been announced, and we were pleased to confirm Stephen Town as the new Chief Executive who will start in July.

For learners, there will be no change throughout 2020. They will have the same brand on their qualification, the same fees, and there will be no change to existing external relationships, such as Studylink.

ITPs will still be under their existing brand on 1 April, though over time there will be more acknowledgement of their part in the national Institute. There will be no change to 2020 investment plans with the Tertiary Education Commission, and scheduled external evaluation and reviews will continue.

For staff working in ITPs, this legislation will not change any terms and conditions of employment, budget approvals, reporting lines, programme approvals, accreditations, or course delivery.

The transition process for ITOs is more complex and varied, and work will continue as each organisation works with the RoVE team on their individual transition plan.

Across the wider RoVE programme, the team will keep working hard to create the different parts of the new vocational education system.

  • The Workforce Development Council (WDC) Design and Reference Groups will be up and running, and industry will start forming some WDC Establishment Working Groups around this time.
  • Registrations of Interest for the Construction and Primary Sector CoVEs close in March, and an expert panel will be assessing the submissions to determine which applicants will be invited to progress further.
  • Proposals for each bespoke Regional Skills Leadership Group will have been sent to Ministers.
  • NZQA will be designing the long-term quality assurance approach for the new vocational education system.
  • Te Taumata Aronui members will have already met, and will be working on the next steps for this group.
  • The Unified Funding System project will have started targeted engagement.