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The change required to achieve this strategy

New Zealand’s continued prosperity and social well-being will rely on the skills and knowledge of its people, and how successfully their skills and knowledge are applied to generate economic growth and improve social outcomes.

Achieving this strategy requires greater engagement between the tertiary education system and employers, regional development organisations and communities to identify the current and future skills and knowledge that graduates will require in employment and wider society. It also requires a tertiary education system that is more effectively connected with global knowledge developments.

ITOs have been asked to take a much stronger leadership role in this area, connecting their industries with the tertiary education system, to meet current and future skill needs and promote training for employers and employees.

There needs to be greater ownership by employers, communities and individuals of the need to foster and develop skills. It cannot be seen solely as the responsibility of the education system.

This strategy recognises the importance of specialist skills, particularly through postgraduate education. Specialist skills include technical, research, entrepreneurial and managerial skills. The 2005 STEP also had a strong emphasis on trade and technical skills required to support and maintain New Zealand’s infrastructure.

Another key part of this strategy is the development of generic skills, which complement the development of specialist skills. As with foundation skills, there has been a shift in thinking about generic skills within a broader framework of ‘key competencies’. Competencies cover the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are needed by people to participate in a knowledge society. Key competencies are those that are important across a range of areas of life and contribute to overall success in life and a well-functioning society. Key competencies are acquired and further developed at all levels of learning. The strategy emphasises greater, explicit recognition of key competencies in programmes and qualifications throughout the tertiary education system.

This strategy addresses equality of access and opportunity to participate and succeed in education at all levels. There is a particular focus on Māori, Pasifika, women (within industry training), learners from low socio-economic backgrounds, learners with disabilities and those living in remote areas. Accompanying this is improving the information and support for learners to make well-informed decisions about education and career options.

Progress to 2005/06

Analysis of profiles shows that most TEOs had some change-focus on this strategy in 2005/07 and 2006/08 profiles. However, there was slightly less change-focus in 2006/08. In many cases, TEOs developed new or improved approaches in this area over the 2004 and 2005 period, which are now referenced as ‘business as usual’ in the 2006/08 profiles. The two areas within the strategy that had consistent focus across TEOs were meeting the skill needs of industry and focusing on access for under-represented groups.

Percentage of TEOs with change-focused objectives relating to ‘Develop the Skills New Zealanders Need’ in profiles 2005/07–2006/08

Skill shortages continue, although they are easing somewhat as the economy slows down. A recent OECD report concludes that raising productivity is the first challenge for New Zealand in order to improve standards of living. The challenge remains to raise the overall skill levels of the New Zealand workforce to remain economically competitive, to improve productivity and to facilitate the rapid introduction of new technologies and processes.

ITOs have continued working with their industries to develop skill plans and better understand workplace needs. Several ITOs are starting to implement their plans. ITPs are also focusing on industry requirements in their qualifications development. However, in research on stakeholder engagement, industries reported wide-ranging levels of engagement and expressed frustration at the relative slowness of tertiary education providers to respond to immediate market needs. The disparate goals of industry and education also made engagement problematic, along with scarce resources on both sides. The government is providing funding through several schemes to build better linkages between industry and tertiary education.

In the area of specialist skills, the number of postgraduate degree completions continues to increase, especially in health. In the government’s Growth and Innovation Framework priority areas, enrolments at postgraduate level are static or declining, with the exception of creative arts. There is little growth also in completions in trade and technical subjects at levels 4 to 7, with declining completions in information technology.

In the area of equality of access and opportunities, there has been little change in participation, retention and progression for Māori, with the exceptions of declining participation at certificate level (following historically high levels) and increased progression to doctorates (most probably in response to additional funding through the PBRF). There has been an overall improvement in participation, retention and progression for Pasifika students across most levels. The number of students with disabilities has levelled off and the number recorded as accessing disability support services has decreased. There has been a continued increase in the number of first-time students aged over 25 in tertiary education.

Improvements to the availability of study-related information for prospective and current students continue and Career Services is expanding its service, particularly to assist young people to make good choices about tertiary education options. However, organisational commitment to study and career advice by TEOs is low.

Key challenges for moving forward

From the analysis of progress to date, the following key challenges for moving forward to achieve this strategy are evident:

• Meeting the skill needs of industry remains an important, but challenging, task for the tertiary education sector.
• There is much more to be done to improve the engagement between tertiary education and industry and build common understanding of the outcomes to be achieved.
• As government policy shifts focus to the quality of tertiary education, it will be important that recent gains in participation, retention and progression for under-represented groups are not lost and indeed are built on.
• Greater engagement and commitment are needed from TEOs to ensure current and prospective students can access quality study and career advice.

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• Table of Contents

• The State of Play

• Cross Strategy Indicators

• Raise foundation skills

• Skills for our knowledge society

• Strengthen research and knowledge creation

• Te rautaki mātauranga Māori

• Pacific people’s development and success

• Capability and quality

• Technical and Data Definitions