Engineering Apprenticeships in New Zealand | What do the changes mean? What is the opportunity?

Since the Middle Ages apprenticeships have ensured the handing over of critical skills from one generation to the next. New Zealand has not been valuing this process at our peril and the government is implementing “once in a generation” changes to address this.

This is an opportunity to learn about these changes and how your organisation can both benefit from apprenticeships and do its part for the future of engineering in NZ.

Our first speaker is Dion Orbell, Chief People Officer for Buckley Systems. Buckley Systems have been employing apprentices across many engineering disciplines for over thirty years. Buckley’s employ between 6 and 10 new apprentices per year depending upon the cycle of workload and senior tradesmen.

Our second speaker is Adrian Ferguson, Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at WelTec – the polytech in Wellington – and also the coordinator of the new Bachelor of Engineering Technology Apprentice Degree in Asset Management. Adrian will talk about these “once in a generation” changes including:

• Amalgamating all NZ institutes of technology or polytechnics (ITP’s) as well as all industry training organisations (ITO’s) into one large organisation – currently known as the “NZ Institute of Skills and Technology” (NZIST).
•  Increased industry input to the system via a number of new organisations known as “Workforce Development Councils” (WDC’s) and others called “Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLG’s).
• What this is likely to mean for employers and trainees.

Presenters:  Dion Orbell Buckley Systems and Adrian Ferguson WelTec

Register Here!