Chris Bishop
National Party Hutt South Candidate

27 June 2014

National delivers engineering upgrade for Hutt students

National Party Hutt South candidate Chris Bishop today visited WelTec's Petone campus with John Key, the site of a newly announced $3 million dedicated engineering school that will provide a fantastic opportunity for Hutt students to get trained in a highly sought after profession.

The Wellington Institute of Technology’s Petone campus is undergoing a revamp to house over 200 students and staff in a new engineering school catering for the Bachelor of Engineering Technology and the New Zealand Diploma in Engineering.

“This is excellent news for Hutt Valley students who want to pursue a career in a growing high-tech profession. Demand for these types of graduates is high as shown in the Occupation Outlook report published by the National-led government,” says Mr Bishop.

"STEM graduates covering science, technology, engineering and mathematics are vital to New Zealand's economic growth, but as a country we produce only half the OECD average of engineers, well below what is required.

"National has pushed hard to increase the uptake of STEM subjects in order to give local employers the skills they need to grow and expand, as well as provide students with in-demand qualifications that will see them gain higher paying jobs.

“The redeveloped facility will itself be a draw card for students when choosing where to study and I congratulate WelTec for backing Petone with their investment.

“Combined with additional local infrastructure such as the new Opus facility opened by John Key earlier this week, it really shows how Hutt South is growing under National’s leadership and providing the foundations for our future as a high-tech hub.

ENDS

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