Minister to launch training organisation

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

24 MARCH, 2009

Minister to launch Communications and Media Industry Training Organisation

The Associate Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Wayne Mapp, will officially launch the country’s newest Industry Training Organisation at a ceremony at Parliament on March 31.

The Communications and Media Industry Training Organisation (CMITO) is responsible for setting unit standards and administering workplace qualifications for the communications and media industries, including journalism, graphic design, marketing, printing production, digital communications and fibreboard packaging. It results from the merger of PrintNZ Training and the New Zealand Journalists Training Organisation (NZJTO) in September 2008.

Dr Mapp said industry training plays an important role in the tertiary education sector and the new ITO will add to the high standard of workplace training excellence already in evidence.

``Education needs to be able to adapt as new technology revolutionises the shape of our economy,’’ he said. ``The building blocks set by the Communications and Media ITO will provide an important influence on the future of this sector.’’

CMITO chief executive Joan Grace says the new ITO provides a working model for future development for the industry. In time, the scope of CMITO will be widened to include multi-media, graphic design, broadcasting, film and outdoor advertising.

``The Communications and Media ITO has been established in such a way that each industry sector retains its unique identity while operating under one united banner,’’ she says. ``In this way, CMITO can represent our industry to the wider business community, while allowing individual sector committees to carry on doing what they do best, which is meeting the needs of their member companies.

``Each of the industries included in CMITO require highly skilled and well trained professionals. Our task is to ensure our programmes draw out the very best in our trainees and provide them with the skills needed to thrive in their chosen careers.’’

To this end, the National Diploma in Applied Journalism will also be launched on March 31. The new qualification, which will be registered at Level 6 on the National Qualifications Framework, provides a practical application of the skills taught in the country’s Journalism schools. Graduate journalists can now complete unit standards in news and feature writing, court reporting, media law, ethics and news gathering as they go about their daily tasks on the job. Unit standards are also being developed in news and feature subbing.

Measures to enhance literacy throughout the printing and communications sector will also be introduced. These include programmes to revise and upgrade training material, provide training to ITO staff and workplace trainers on literacy, and continue with existing one-on-one support for apprentices and trainees with specific literacy issues. These programmes, designed to enhance the ITO’s capability, have been made possible by support from the Tertiary Education Commission.

ends

© Scoop Media