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Regional Facilitation and Statement What is Regional Facilitation? The Tertiary Education Strategy 2007-2012 identifies a new role for Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) as part of the tertiary education reforms. From 2007 ITPs have been charged with the responsibility for acting as a regional facilitator and producing a Regional Statement outlining their region’s tertiary education needs, gaps and priorities. Waiariki Institute of Technology facilitated this process in 2008 and produced a high level regional statement. In 2008 we are required to update the Regional Statement to make sure the regions needs, gaps, priorities and future trends are indentified and current. Regional Facilitation is designed to ensure dialogue between stakeholders and tertiary education providers, as well as increasing collaboration between providers in the region. Stakeholders are community interest groups, industries, national, regional, governmental and other sector groups that have an interest in the provision of tertiary education. The key objectives of regional facilitation include:
Regional Facilitation seeks to achieve a shared understanding of the tertiary education needs of regions that must be met if we are to make a difference for stakeholders on a regional and national basis. The best way to achieve this level of understanding is to bring education and training providers, Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) and wider stakeholders together to pool information and gain a shared view of tertiary education needs, priorities and gaps. We will be doing this through regional workshops and questionnaires. Regional Facilitation is not about deciding who is going to respond to the needs of a region. Decisions about public funding of provision will be made by Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) through the investing in a plan process and in the context of the network of provision. These decisions will depend on who is best placed to deliver the education and training needed with the network of provision. How is the Regional Statement created? A key function of the regional facilitation role is the development of a high level statement of regional tertiary education needs, gaps and priorities developed after dialogue with stakeholders. For example, the Regional Facilitator initiate forums for all interested stakeholders to gain a shared understanding of the tertiary education and training needs of the region. Forums should include engagement with ITOs at a regional level to ensure the identification of national needs. A discussion of regional national needs may include: Population trends, demographics, social, cultural and economic characteristics of the region. A current analysis may already exist as part of economic development and/or labour market analysis work completed with the region. Who will use the Regional Statement? The Regional Statement will be used by tertiary education providers as the base information required in their Investment Plans (replacing charters and profiles). The Regional Statement is also used and accessed by local and central government and other key stakeholders to identify what are the tertiary education needs, gaps, priorities and future trends and how they align with their organisational strategies for the future. 2008 Process During February and March 2008 workshops will be organised to bring all stakeholders together in the form of workshops to indentify needs, gaps, priorities and future trends. From the information obtained in these collaborative and consultative workshops conclusions and analysis of information will be drawn and used to update the 2007 copy of the Regional Statement. This will be signed off by regional Regional Leadership Consultation Group. The updated Regional Statement is then passed on to Tertiary Educations Commission. Workshops A total of 6 workshops will be conducted over a two week period, covering the Turangi, Taupo, Tokoroa, Kawerau, Whakatane, Rotorua regions. If you would like to attend click here for the invitation. Questionnaire We encourage your participation at the regional workshops but we also understand that due to commitments that some times and dates may clash. If this is the case and you can not attend any of the workshops we encourage you to provide us with your feedback through our questionnaire which is attached below and return to regionalworkshops@waiariki.ac.nz. This will allow us to receive your input and be able to add this with all our other feedback and draw the conclusions, analysis to add the regional reflection into 2008’s Regional Statement. A copy of the 2009 Regional Statement is available for you to download and provide comment on. We encourage you to do this as well as attending the workshops or providing the questionnaire feedback. What does Regional Facilitation mean for our region? Regional Facilitation means that tertiary educational provision will become aligned with what our future needs, gaps, priorities and trends show us. We will be looking at the future needs of our labour pool within this region, that will indentify our main industries now and the shifts in the future to make sure that training providers are aware of the needs and gaps. In conclusion this will help with the ever increasing skills shortages and skill demand we are experiencing within our region. This affects us all whether we are a consumer of education (student), education provider, parent, future or current employer, secondary school, recruitment firm, economic development agency, council, Chamber of Commerce, Maori trust, Iwi, International Education provider. Our definition of a stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in tertiary education. From this site updated versions of the Regional Statement and workshop summaries will be available for feedback and further consultation. A timeline for this process is listed below:
If you have any further questions or comments on Regional Facilitation please contact; Chris Asby |
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