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Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced appointments to four tertiary education institution councils, including two new council members and three reappointments.

“I am pleased to welcome these high-calibre new council appointees into their roles.  I also welcome the reappointment of three council members in recognition of their high quality contribution,” Mr Joyce says.

“I also wish to thank outgoing council members for the valuable service they have provided.”

The new appointments are:

Six groups have been invited to submit full proposals to operate Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Graduate Schools in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce announced today.

The six, comprised of tertiary education providers and business partners, were shortlisted following stage one of a two-stage tender process. They are:

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today welcomed the announcement of an immediate start to the Canterbury Engineering the Future (CETF) construction project as good news for the University of Canterbury, Christchurch and New Zealand.

The Government is supporting the project as part of its contribution of up to $260 million to fund the redevelopment of the engineering facilities and development of new science buildings at the University. The new state-of-the-art facilities will meet the learning needs of students into the future.

The Government initiative aimed at encouraging overseas student loan debtors to start repaying their loans has now netted $150 million in additional payments, and the pace of collection is picking up.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Todd McClay say the initiative took three years to collect its first $100 million, and just six months to collect the next fifty million. It now has a year-to-date return of $16 for every $1 invested in it.

An annual report on the performance of the tertiary sector confirms that the number of domestic students who completed bachelors degrees in 2013 is the highest ever, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

Profile & Trends 2013, released today by the Ministry of Education, showed that last year 26,200 bachelors degrees were completed by domestic students, up 4,950 since 2010 – an increase of 23 per cent.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced the signing with China of two initiatives that will further enhance educational initiatives between China and New Zealand.

The bilateral education arrangements were part of the eighth meeting of the New Zealand-China Joint Working Group on Education and Training, which coincided with the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to New Zealand this week.

Scholarships have been awarded to 160 top students from around the country to study at Asian institutions next year under the Prime Minister’s Scholarship for Asia programme.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says the scholarships see Kiwi students studying in some of New Zealand’s key markets such as China, Japan, Vietnam and India, with others flying the flag in smaller countries like Myanmar and Brunei.

Steady job growth in the September quarter has lowered New Zealand’s unemployment rate to 5.4 per cent in the latest Household Labour Force Survey, the lowest unemployment rate since March 2009.

The HLFS shows an increase of 18,000 people employed in the September quarter and 72,000 over the last year as the economy continues to strengthen following the Global Financial Crisis.

“It’s very encouraging to see the increasing confidence of companies around the country as they build their businesses and hire more people,” Mr Joyce says.

The Government has announced that a series of job fairs will be held in capital cities across Australia to encourage more Kiwis to return home and Australians to settle here to help fill emerging skills gaps and support thriving New Zealand-based businesses.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, together with international employment event organiser Working In, will be hosting the first two expos in Perth on 22-23 November and Sydney on the 29-30 November. Further events will follow in Melbourne and Brisbane in the first quarter of next year.