The Government announced today that the first two centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs) will be established for Construction and the Primary Sector.
“We are very excited to be hosting and supporting the consortia partnerships for the first of what we hope will be a number of CoVEs at NZIST,” says NZIST’s CE Stephen Town.
“The Food and Fibre CoVE, hosted at our subsidiary EIT, and the construction sector CoVE, hosted at NZIST subsidiary MIT, will tangibly demonstrate the impact we can have by strengthening links between skills and training, industry and community and most importantly, learners. This is another key step towards reforming vocational education.”
The Construction CoVE (ConCoVE), hosted at MIT will help to deliver on the shared goals of the Construction Sector Accord between Government and industry, to build a productive, sustainable and resilient sector for both businesses and their employees.
“The centre will be a national network connecting industry to education providers,” says MIT Chief Executive Gus Gilmore.
The Food and Fibre CoVE, hosted at EIT is expected to bring people together from across the primary sector to partner and collaborate on the training that people and businesses need.
EIT CEO Chris Collins says that the CoVE will bring together all relevant people and bodies needed to grow excellent vocational education provision and share high-quality curriculum and programme design across the system. “We fully support a stronger focus on vocational and applied education in order to help industry, businesses and communities thrive.”
“Our industries are constantly evolving,” said Primary ITO CE Nigel Philpott. “Working together is an opportunity to develop new ways of doing things. In Hastings, this month Primary ITO staff are moving into office space at EIT and that will be another way our organisations can work together to get the best results for primary sector learners.”
About CoVEs
ConCoVE and the Food and Fibre CoVE are the first of several CoVEs expected to be established across industries and sectors, to help drive innovation and excellence in vocational education, by strengthening links with industry and communities.
“NZIST has been established to be responsive to the needs of all regions of New Zealand, their learners, industries, employers, and communities,” says Mr Town.
“The CoVEs model is one way that will help us deliver that focus. By driving innovation and excellence in vocational education, they signal a new way of approaching training – collaborating with a group from across a sector to grow excellent vocational provision and share high-quality curriculum and programme design.”
Learn more about the ConCoVE .
Learn more about the Food and Fibre CoVE.