Tertiary commitment made, more detail to come

Significant commitment made and more detail to come in tertiary reforms

27 July 2006

“Dr Cullen has made a significant commitment to define the funding rules for what the student component and industry training fund parts of the system can be used for”, said Darel Hall Executive Director of the Industry Training Federation. “Sorting out these incentives is critical. It has been a source of tension in the system and stifles responsiveness to industry skill needs.

“The ITF welcomes confirmation of ITO core legislated roles. The United Kingdom Sector Skills Development Agency, for example, states that the systems of NZ and the Netherlands are the most effective for skills formation because ‘both are employer-led, and directly in control of substantial funding for training’.

“Dr Cullen has also confirmed he will take a whole system approach, rather than trying to ‘fix’ one part first. Patching holes in sub-sectors without consideration of the whole system has often wrought new problems rather than sustainable solutions.

“In our small country the balance needs to be on national industry views. Regional views and variations are important and need to be part of the process, but they are not a substitution for industry views.

“The view that stakeholders need more influence in the system than is currently the case is positive.

“The ITF needs to caution that the deferred maintenance to the industry training system needs to take place now rather than wait until the reform process has concluded - at least where the third party effects are largely non-existent or understood.

“The ITF looks forward to consultation on details”, said Darel Hall.

ENDS

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