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New enrolments in apprenticeship training have grown by 24 per cent since 2012 following the introduction of the Apprenticeship Reboot scheme last year, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Apprenticeship Reboot was announced in January 2013 by Prime Minister John Key alongside an overhaul of the apprenticeship scheme to get more apprentices qualified, especially in construction trades.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced that he will host the Innovations in Tertiary Education Delivery Summit 2014 (ITES2014) in Auckland on 5 and 6 June.

A hundred and three outstanding New Zealand students have been given the opportunity to study at top Asian universities after receiving Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says the scholarships, announced by Prime Minister John Key today at a function at Parliament, enable more New Zealanders to gain a deeper understanding of other cultures in countries that are crucial to New Zealand’s future.

A Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) will be funded as part of the Government’s increased investment in research excellence, Māori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples and Associate Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Tariana Turia say.

Vote Tertiary Education provides about $5 million a year to establish a Māori-focused CoRE. This will start on 1 January 2016, when the current contract expires for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, a CoRE hosted by the University of Auckland.  

Budget 2014 provides $198.6 million of operating funding for new investment in tertiary education, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

“This investment will strengthen our higher education system, improve further the quality of our universities, and help maintain their international competitiveness,” he says.

The Government will fund three additional Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs) from 2016, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

Budget 2014 boosts CoREs operating funding by $53 million over four years. Annual ongoing funding will increase to $49.8 million from 2016/17 to support three additional CoREs, bringing the total number able to be funded up to 10.

Associate Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Tariana Turia, has moved quickly to correct the tall tales being released into the public arena about the state of Māori employment.

“The reality is that in the last quarter there has been an encouraging improvement in employment for both Māori and Pasifika.   In percentile terms, for Māori there’s been an increase in the employment rate between the first quarters of 2013 and 2014 from 56.2% to 58.7% and for Pasifika from 51.1% to 54.3%,” says Mrs Turia.

The latest labour market data shows continuing strong employment growth with 84,000 more jobs added to the New Zealand economy in the last year – the largest increase in nearly a decade.

Today’s Household Labour Force Survey shows employment was up by 0.9 per cent – 22,000 people – in the March quarter and up by 3.7 per cent in the last year.

“The latest results show the growing strength of the New Zealand economy,” Mr Joyce says. 

Continuing high demand for the Apprenticeship Reboot means the Government has decided to spend up to $20 million in Budget 2014 for an extra 6,000 places as part of its Business Growth Agenda, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Apprenticeship Reboot was announced in January 2013 by Prime Minister John Key alongside an overhaul of the apprenticeship scheme to get more apprentices qualified, especially in construction trades.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced 10 appointments to five tertiary education institution councils, which include seven new council members.

“I am pleased to welcome these high-calibre council appointees into their new roles,” Mr Joyce says.

“These appointments are to the council of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and to four councils in the polytechnic sector, and are intended to reinforce the leadership of those polytechnic councils.

Over $100 million of additional taxpayer money has now been collected from overseas-based borrowers in an initiative that will help keep the scheme sustainable for future students and taxpayers, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Todd McClay say.

The overseas-based borrowers initiative began as a small pilot programme in 2010 and has since expanded to comprehensively target borrowers in default of their repayment obligations across Australia and the United Kingdom, plus parts of Europe, North America and Asia.

Legislation that completes the Government’s comprehensive reforms to industry training today passed its third and final reading in Parliament.

“The Industry Training and Apprenticeships Amendment Bill is a crucial part of the Government’s comprehensive reforms to industry training, which will achieve better performance for employers, for trainees and apprentices, and also for taxpayers,” Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

It is my pleasure to be here this afternoon and can I say how pleased I am to see international education on the agenda.

Over the last few years as Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment I’ve been privileged to travel overseas promoting New Zealand as a study destination, and helping to establishing links between New Zealand and overseas institutions.

Rau rangatira ma, nga mata waka, nga karangaranga maha, tena koutou.

Talofa lava, malo e lelei, kia orana, bula vinaka, fakaalofa lahi atu, namaste, malo ni, halo ola keta, mauri, fakatalofa atu.

Ki a koutou hoki te mana whenua o tenei rohe, Te Ati Awa, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou.

I want to thank Kura Moeahu and Waiwhetu Marae for the warmth of your welcome. It is always good to return to this marae, a marae which lives up to its name, Aroha ki te tangata.

Thank you also to Reverend Nove Vailaau for opening our hui.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today opened an education trade fair in Jakarta that continues the push to grow New Zealand international education in Indonesia.

The fair was attended by almost 30 New Zealand educational institutions, including universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics, and schools.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced 20 appointments to 13 tertiary education institution councils, which include two new council members.

“I am pleased to welcome these high-calibre council appointees into their new roles and to welcome the reappointment of a number of council members in recognition of the high-quality governance they have been providing to these institutions,” Mr Joyce says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata welcomed the first reading of the Education Amendment Bill in Parliament today, which will make a number of legislative changes aimed at strengthening the education profession.

The Bill will help the profession meet the challenges and opportunities of modern learning, and promote high standards of safety and accountability for teachers. It will also modernise the governance bodies of universities and wānanga. 

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced the first four organisations to receive direct Government funding through the Industry Training Fund direct funding pilot. 

“Following a review of industry training in 2011, we have implemented a number of changes to boost performance and participation, encourage competition and innovation, as well as simplifying the industry training system,” Mr Joyce says.

The Student Loan Scheme Amendment Bill (No. 3), introduced in August 2013, passed its final stages in Parliament today.

The new legislation includes tougher measures to deal with student loan borrowers who persistently refuse to make repayments and introduces higher repayment obligations for overseas-based borrowers to assist them to pay off their loans sooner.

Introduction

Good morning. It’s great to be here.

Today I’m going to outline and launch the new Tertiary Education Strategy for 2014-19.

The new strategy builds on the gains we as a sector have already made. It will drive the tertiary system to be more outward facing and engaged, with stronger links to industry, community and the global economy.

I’m also going to detail the final package of changes we’ll make to the Performance-Based Research Fund to make it more efficient and more effective.

Tertiary education research funding will be simplified and strengthened in changes announced today by Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce.

The Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) rewards and encourages excellent tertiary education research by assessing research quality, allocating funding based on results, and publishing information on research performance. It also contributes to the Government’s wider science, research and innovation objectives, by supporting research activities that provide social and economic benefits to New Zealand.

Providing more learners with skills that industries need, building international linkages, strengthening research-based learning, and performing better for at-risk groups and second-chance learners, are all part of the new Tertiary Education Strategy released today.

Speaking at the Higher Education Summit in Auckland, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today launched the Tertiary Education Strategy 2014-19. The Strategy sets the Government’s expectations of the tertiary education sector for the next five years.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today released the free Occupation Outlook 2014 mobile app that gives young people and their families instant and easy access to the latest career information.

Around 1,000 more young people remained in education at age 17 and more young people achieved NCEA Level 2 because of Youth Guarantee programmes, a new Ministry of Education report shows.

The first Youth Guarantee Monitoring Report (2010-2012) shows that Youth Guarantee programmes have been successful at increasing the retention of at-risk young people in education and raising their achievement.