DIRECTION RIGHT, LINKS MISSING

Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) have commended the Government for taking steps in the right direction in education, but noted that some important linkages are not yet made.

“Five Steps Ahead is moving in the right direction. Tertiary institutions, industry and researchers must work together to drive innovation and enterprise however, industry training is a vital link,” said the Executive Director of the Federation of ITOs, Paul Williams.

“Industry training is critical to capturing the value of innovation – there’s no point to having PhDs working upstairs if you’ve not got a highly trained and skilled workforce,” Mr Williams said.

“We will be actively involved in the Enterprise Education Taskforce and will be advocating increasing industry-based training at all levels of the National Qualifications Framework,” he said

ITOs work with businesses and education institutions to develop comprehensive training and education programmes that meet current and emerging trends in industry.

“ITOs work at the interface of education and industry ensuring that businesses have skilled employees. It is at this interface, between knowledge creation and knowledge transfer, that you enhance competitive advantage,” Mr Williams said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>