Gearing Up The Tertiary System To Drive The Smart City

Wellington's Smart City could get a boost from tertiary education reform proposals proposed by the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (TEAC), Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said today.

Mr Maharey was speaking at a public consultation meeting called to discuss the proposals contained in the second report of the Commission released last Wednesday. The TEAC proposes the establishment of a permanent Tertiary Education Commission – responsible for the whole of the tertiary education system, including adult and community education; colleges of education; industry training organisations; polytechnics; private training establishments; universities; and wananga – and a new funding and regulatory framework to allow the Government to actively steer the system.

Mr Maharey said active steering of the system to meet regional skills needs could better ensure Wellington's knowledge-based industries were able to recruit the highly skilled workers needed.

"Wellington's economic base is more and more being built off the knowledge industries. Web design, software development and the digital arts sector require highly skilled graduates with a broad general knowledge and specialist IT expertise.

"Tertiary education providers in the Wellington region have already shown a willingness to work together with leadership from the Wellington City Council. The proposed Tertiary Education Commission could build on this platform to ensure that the regional educational cluster is further strengthened.

"The Government is looking seriously at the Commission's proposals and we are seeking feedback from industry, educationalists, students and the wider community. It is clear that our tertiary system is in need of reform and we want to make decisions on the TEAC proposals by mid year," Steve Maharey said.

Further public consultation meetings are being held in Palmerston North (March 17), Greymouth (March 20), Christchurch (March 22), Nelson (March 23), Gisborne (March 28) Auckland (March 29) and Dunedin (March 31).

Information about the Smart Wellington project can be found at www.smartwellington.com

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