Accolades From Minister For First Anniversary

A year ago the Bay of Plenty witnessed the merger of its two polytechnics – they celebrated their first anniversary as Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology with regional stakeholders.

Around 60 invited guests came to the Windermere Campus in Tauranga to celebrate the auspicious event, including special guests, Hon Louise Upston, Associate Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, and MP for Taupō, and Todd Muller, Member for Bay of Plenty.

The Minister reflected on the merger, and said the decision of the legacy institutions to merge was “stunning”.

“Congratulations on getting to year one,” said Minister Upston. “In a short time you’ve made a significant contribution and now with more than 14,000 students you’re the third largest institute of technology in New Zealand. That’s no mean feat.

“What is really important is the reach into community – whether that’s employers, schools or iwi; that is where the greatest success will lie and you’ve been really successful in doing that already.

“One of the things that has been driving me in my role as the Associate Minister for Tertiary Education is personalised pathways for each and every learner. You cannot do that if you remain an island. It is only through reaching back into your feeder schools, and that will be easier now with the Communities of Learning; it is only then responding to industry and what their needs are that you will deliver to them the employees of the future. So it’s great to see how connected you are and I would encourage you to do more of that in the years to come.

“One of the focuses for me as the Associate Minister of Primary Industries is skills, and that as a country we have the workforce that we need. In primary industries we will have an anticipated shortage of 43,000 over the next 8.5 years. In the services sector we predict a need for 200,000 new jobs in the next three years. We need to make sure that we are providing those educational opportunities to meet that need.

“I have no bones about standing before you to say that we have a responsibility to New Zealand to grow our own. It is fantastic to see that Toi Ohomai is providing such a range of subjects that will lead to such a range of career opportunities, and particularly in the Bay of Plenty. Whether that’s going in to industries or organisations like Zespri, a world leading brand, or geo-thermal, forestry, horticulture – you name it, we’ve got it here and you’re growing our own talent which is absolutely stunning.’

Dr Leon Fourie, Toi Ohomai Chief Executive, was delighted with the turnout to share the milestone and reminded the guests about the uniqueness of Toi Ohomai.

“As an Institute of Technology, we find our distinctiveness on two levels: first, we are about real-world learning, our roots are truly in work-based and apprenticeship style learning. Secondly, in a deep commitment to equity and the achievement of social justice through educational opportunity. These are our key drivers – particularly because we have the largest number of Māori learners of any ITP in New Zealand with 45% of our learners identifying as Māori.”

Dr Fourie emphasised the importance of continuing to build meaningful connections across the region on six key fronts:

1. Connecting with Iwi needs, interests and aspirations
2. Connecting with all stakeholders on future growth areas
3. Connecting with schools and other tertiary providers to create seamless interfaces in the education-to-employment value chain.
4. Connecting with business and industry professionals to improve curriculum and employment outcomes
5. Connecting with communities on creating greater access across to education across the region and improving employment outcomes
6. Connecting through our ability to deliver training solutions and learning outcomes at a project site or business location.

Fitting with the theme of the day, building meaningful connections, Dr Fourie summed up.

“There is no single magic bullet, we can’t do it alone - all hands on deck are required if we want to make our waka to go faster! It has to be a coalition of the willing: Iwi, local council, schools, tertiary institutions, funders, property developers, community and local business leaders all need to have skin in the game to achieve this outcome. We need to connect and adopt a ‘Give-to-Get’ mentality if we want to maximize the downstream benefits.”

The stakeholder event wrapped up a week of celebration for the institution, with students and staff enjoying cakes earlier in the week. 

For more information about Toi Ohomai institute of Technology, visit their website.