Kia ora koutou

I hope you had a restful long weekend, wherever in the motu you were. It was an extra special weekend for one of us; my huge congratulations to Dr Louise Rummel from MIT. Louise, as part of the King's Birthday Honours 2024, is now a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for her services to nursing education. I encourage you to read Louise’s biography on the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet website. Louise, your dedication and contributions have elevated the field of nursing education and inspired countless students and professionals. It is a privilege to have you on our MIT and Te Pūkenga team.

Last week, the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and I had the bittersweet honour of farewelling Keri-Anne Tane at Tangatarua Marae at the Toi Ohomai Mokoia Campus. This week, we had a special ceremony at Ngā Kete Wānanga Marae.

With Keri-Anne’s and Andrew McSweeney’s departures and Michelle’s upcoming, we’ve made the following interim appointments and reporting line changes:

• Sandy Shea is now our Head of Digital, reporting to Paora Ammunson.
• Phil O’Callaghan will lead the Finance team as Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and report directly to me once Michelle leaves us at the end of next week.
• Keri-Anne Tane’s four Regional People and Culture Directors now report to the Regional Executive Directors. Additionally, Nic Conley, Payroll and HRIS Director, will report to Phil O’Callaghan. Mark Broadbent, People and Culture Strategic Director, and Garth Gulley, Wellbeing and Safety Director, will report to me.

The People and Culture team recently agreed on a new collective agreement with TIASA. The negotiations reflected a mutual desire to provide kaimahi with certainty in their terms and conditions of employment during our transition. The renewed agreement covers a two-year period. You can find the full agreement, Terms of Settlement and FAQs about the agreed pay increase on Te Whare. The team is currently updating divisional pay schedules, which will also be available on Te Whare soon.

Budget 2024 didn’t deliver too many surprises last week. We anticipated our $220m establishment loan would be cancelled, and we await further details about the contingency set aside for disestablishment work.

I'm sure you've noted the budget announcements, including the increases in tuition rates and the Annual Maximum Fee Movement, the shift of Fees Free to the final year of study, and confirmation that Apprenticeship Boost will be permanent for first-year apprentices in key industries. We hope these initiatives will improve retention and boost Work Based Learning (WBL) sign-ups. The budget also announced that the Workforce Development Councils' (WDCs) funding has been confirmed until July 2025.

Last Tuesday, Te Pūkenga Council provided the specialist advisors’ report to the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).  Given the report will inform the Minister's decision-making, it remains confidential as it is now part of government process.

We look forward to hearing about the government’s future plans.

As always, thank you for the great mahi you deliver each and every day.

Heoi anō tāku mō nāianei

Gus Gilmore

Tumuaki | Chief Executive

Ngā kōrero hou
Our updates

Te Pae Ora (learner wellbeing platform) resources available for business division use

Te Pae Ora resources are now available on Te Whare for business divisions to use on their own websites and platforms.

Te Pae Ora is an ākonga wellbeing platform hosted on tepūkenga.ac.nz/te-pae-ora/. Here, you’ll find a heap of great content and tools created for learners to support them on their learning journey.

The content has been created with Sir Mason Durie’s Te Pae Māhutonga health promotion model. This model uses six guiding whetū (pillars) to support overall oranga (health), recognising that everyone has different needs, priorities and aspirations.

As a business division, you can use Te Pae Ora for your ākonga:

• Link to the extensive content (articles, videos, tools) on Te Pae Ora.
• Reuse the content on your own website and ākonga support channels e.g. learner portals, support resources, social media, learner emails.
• Link to the videos on Te Pūkenga YouTube channel – all videos have a New Zealand Sign Language version too!

All of the content – both written and videos – has a network-wide license and can be used by all business divisions.

Join a men's health webinar to combat alarming statistics and save lives

Join us for an eye-opening Men's Health Week webinar on Friday 14 June at 12.30pm, which will address critical health disparities affecting men.

Learn from expert Kent Johns, a certified health and mental wellbeing coach, as he shares essential insights to empower you and the men in your life. Watch the video clip and register now to take action for a healthier future!

Register here.

Conflict of Interest Policy and Procedure

Managing actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest is an important part of maintaining trust in public organisations.

Te Pūkenga has introduced a new Policy and Procedure to ensure our decisions remain impartial and serve the public's best interests.

All kaimahi should know their responsibilities for disclosing conflicts of interest, the steps to follow, and the protections for those raising concerns.

Any declarations made under the Policy are held confidentially by People and Culture teams.

The full Conflict of Interest Policy is available here and Procedure here.

If you have any questions, please speak with your manager or the People and Culture team: PeopleAndCulture@TePukenga.ac.nz.

Proposals invited: 2024 Creative Practice Research Symposium

We warmly invite proposals for the 2024 Creative Practice Research Symposium, to be held at Te Kōpū Mānia Marae, Wintec, Hamilton. This year’s symposium, which will run from 18 to 20 September, is built around the theme of connections.

Connection implies both an act and a state of being; a link between two or more people or items. Both art and creativity enable connection.

Proposals are invited around the idea of connection but can also extend to ideas of interconnectedness and disconnection. Papers that examine any field of creative practice and its connections – latent, emergent, established are welcome:

• Identity (personal or collective)
• Culture (local, regional, national, international)
• The environment (built, natural)
• Worldviews (Te Ao Māori, Te Ao Pākehā)
• Community
• Teaching practices
• Genre and other creative practices or practitioners.

People are encouraged to examine and reflect on creative practices and contextualise them in terms of existing theories or frameworks or how creative work is connected to bigger ideas.

Submissions from emerging researchers and postgraduate students are especially welcome. This symposium may provide an opportunity to forge connections with a broader network of practitioners and academics.

Presentation options and submissions

There are two presentation options:

• 20-minute paper (plus 10 minutes of questions and answers)
• 45-minute panel presentation, discussion or forum (three to four speakers), allowing for more provocative and multifaceted musings on an issue, including questions and answers.

Papers can either be a standard presentation or interweave an output of creative practice, such as a scholarly artist talk. While there are limitations on space and time, if people have innovative suggestions for a presentation format, please contact the organisers in advance of submitting a proposal to check if it may work.

Symposium format

The symposium will likely take the following format, pending submissions:

• Wednesday 18 September: mihi whakatau, presentations
• Thursday 19 September: presentations
• Friday 20 September: researcher development workshops

Key dates

• Send an abstract of 250 words outlining the core research idea, question, or area of enquiry by 5pm Friday 5 July, to Nick.Braae@wintec.ac.nz.
• The symposium committee will peer-review the abstracts. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday 19 July.

For any postgraduate students or emerging researchers who haven’t submitted a proposal before or are uncertain about what it entails, please contact Nick Braae for a template or assistance.