Education Minister Chris Hipkins recently appeared before the Education and Workforce select committee to face a barrage of schooling related questions, but with little focus on tertiary education. However, just before his appearance, tertiary education data for 2018 and updated tertiary education forecasts were released, casting some light on the tertiary sector. Read

Lifting the skills and opportunities available for Māori has been one of the key priority areas of the government’s Wellbeing Budget. Plenty has been written about the socio-economic, health and other challenges facing Māori over the past couple of decades, yet many of these interrelated issues remain. Read

Infometrics’ comprehensive regional forecasting model shows that between 2018 and 2022 there will be 600,000 jobs that need to be filled due to new job growth or replacement demand (people moving roles that need to be replaced). Read

On 26 June, Infometrics will release our take on key megatrends likely to affect the NZ and specific sectors at the Infometrics sponsored Industry Training Federation conference. The theme of this conference is ‘Skills in a Changing World’, which will bring together thought leaders from Government, industry, and the education system to consider these themes at global, national, local, and workplace levels. Read

The prediction by Winston Peters of an economic correction or slowdown, made at the time of last October’s coalition announcement, appears to be coming true. Infometrics’ latest forecasts see New Zealand’s economic growth slowing to 2.4%pa by the end of this year and slipping below 2.0%pa during 2019. Read

The holidays are over, NCEA results are out, and school leavers are finalising their plans for the coming year – including for tertiary education. In this article, we argue that there’s more to be done in the tertiary sector than simply providing one year’s free tertiary education. We outline that the Government’s problem definition for fees-free misses the mark. Although there is scope to improve the effectiveness of the policy, we argue a national skills strategy should be next on the government’s list. Read

In August this year ServiceIQ, the Industry Training Organisation (ITO), for the aviation, hospitality, retail, travel, tourism and museums sectors, launched the first 10 in a series of 15 Service Sector Regional Roadmaps in the Grand Hall at Parliament. The roadmaps were launched by Associate Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Hon. Louise Upston. Read

It is Got a Trade Week, where a wide range of training and career opportunities in the trades and services industries are highlighted. But why focus on raising awareness of the trades and services industries?  Simply put, they are industries that we can’t afford to ignore.  Overall, they account for 75% of all employment in New Zealand! Read

Infometrics is proud to once again sponsor the Got a Trade? Got it Made! campaign. Got a Trade? Got it Made! focuses on raising awareness of training and career opportunities in New Zealand’s trades and services. The campaign culminates in a dedicated awareness week on 21-27 August that will speak to young people, key influencers, including parents, teachers and careers advisors. Read

Workforce scanning and development is a key role that Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) undertake.  Skills Active Aotearoa, the ITO for the recreation, sport and exercise industries released a comprehensive Workforce Scan late last year.  The workforce scan was led by Maren Frerichs, General Manager of Industry Engagement at Skills Active.  Shaun Twaddle, Infometrics Director, had a chat with Maren to find out why they put together the workforce scan and how they went about it. Read