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The October 2016 issue of Connection is produced by the Wellington Institute of Technology.
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WelTec is pleased to bring you the Spring edition of our industry newsletter. Connection magazine links industry and our stakeholders with the latest WelTec news and achievements.
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The last quarter has been busy for me as Chief Executive. In July I was part of a Prime Minister led trade, business and education delegation to Indonesia. WelTec and Whitireia get a small number of international students from Indonesia, but with a population of 255 million (fourth most populous nation in the world), a young population and a fast growing economy, there are certainly prospects for the growth of these numbers. From Indonesia I travelled to China to join a Wellington City mayoral delegation which had a very strong education focus. Joining the mayoral delegation provided an opportunity to engage at a high level with local government and education representatives which was a very effective way to promote the Wellington region and education opportunities. We visited four cities – Xiamen, Xi’an, Tianjin and Beijing over ten days. I presented (along with other Wellington education representatives) to a variety of government and municipal education “department” groups and at two major student recruitment events. In addition I visited a number of existing or potential partner institutions and signed an agreement with Beijing Polytechnic College.
Next week I join another Prime Minister led delegation to India, visiting Mumbai, New Delhi and Kochi. India is a major source of international students for WelTec and Whitireia and, notwithstanding some recent publicity, students from India make a hugely important economic and social contribution to the Wellington region. This visit links with the regional economic strategy to grow the number of international students studying in Wellington.
Back home the Productivity Commission released its draft report which can be viewed here. The report is 400 pages long but makes some very good points about tertiary education providers being connected to industry; innovation, i.e. the importance of our institutions being agile, flexible; and relevant and the provision of meaningful learner pathways throughout the education system. The report notes, amongst other things, that existing government rules stifle the ability of providers to innovate and that we need more freedom and incentives to try new things. We welcome greater autonomy and responsibility as we see our role being to respond quickly to the requirements of learners and industry. We will provide a response to the draft report later next month and the Productivity Commission will submit their final report to Government on 28 February 2017.
Staff have been busy transforming our qualifications to the new New Zealand qualifications which have all been designed with relevant industry input, and our website has had a major overhaul: www.weltec.ac.nz
The annual dinner with the Chairs of our Industry Partnerships Committee and our Council was well attended with presentations on our Joint Leadership Team structure, Centres of Learning and Business Partnerships.
Finally I am pleased to advise that WelTec performed well in the recently released Educational Performance Indicators with 81% course completions for 2015 (for our students funded from our main Tertiary Education Commission funding source). Qualification completions were above the sector median and Youth Guarantee students (those aged under 19 years and accessing fees free education) did particularly well with WelTec students achieving top in the country for progression to higher level programmes – an important measure of success for this cohort.
If you would like to get in touch with me please email me on Chris.Gosling@wandw.ac.nz
Director Business Development Mark Johnston addresses the Industry Partnership Committee representatives.
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A number of high profile international delegations have recently been hosted by WelTec. They have included Beijing Polytechnic College led by their Vice President. The focus of this visit was on opportunities for collaboration in the fields of engineering, quantity surveying, and creative technologies including animation. 2016 Creative Technologies graduate Bo Peng addressed the delegation. Bo is an animator and is exhibiting at the NZ Portrait Gallery from 21 October. View a clip of Bo's work here
 Leading vocational college Beijing Polytechnic College Visit
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Left to right: Simon Park (WelTec IT Lecturer), Sung Sik Hong (Group Manager, Electronics Industry Skills Council of South Korea), Hyun Ki Kim (Director, Electronics Industry Skills Council of South Korea), Chris Norton (Academic Services Manager) and Brian Cao (WelTec International Marketing Manager)
Vocational education and training that equips electronics graduates with the type of skills required by major Korean companies (LG, Samsung and others) was the key focus for a recent delegation visiting the Petone campus from Korea.
The Korean Industry Skills Council wants to implement initiatives to meet the needs and demands of their electronics industry however the main electronics companies are experiencing gaps in the knowledge and skills of new graduates who enter the workforce mainly from a university pathway. The delegation was impressed with the applied practical nature of our programmes which see students undertaking internships, industry projects and work experience while they are studying with us.
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Discover the work of our highly skilled creative graduates. Specialists of Film, Digital Design, Animation, Interior Design, Photography, Visual Arts. The exhibition runs from 22 to 30 October 2016 at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery.
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Bronwyn Shanks, International Market Manager Americas and Europe Education NZ, Aime Black Education Advisor US Embassy, Dr Julia Hennessy WelTec Director Teaching and Learning, and Dr Leanne Dunsmore Branch Chief US Study Abroad Office of Global Education Programmes US Department of State.
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Becoming a structural engineer has been Adam Webber’s goal since he was a young boy in Year 3 at primary school. As an 8 year old Adam was asked to participate in a bridge building project and that was it – he was hooked on large-scale construction projects especially those involving buildings, bridges, roads and dams.
Making sure he took all the required STEM subjects at Hutt Valley High School which included physics, calculus, and chemistry to one day enter engineering was all part of Adam’s plan to reach his goal. Now, several years later 22 year old Adam is in his third and final year of a Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree at WelTec.
For his final year student project Adam has been working on a new plan for concrete formwork at a water pump station in Ōtaki for local civil contracting company Juno Civil Ltd. Aiming to see if he can come up with a new design which involves less materials and is code-compliant is the problem Adam is working towards solving, and he obviously loves what he is doing, “I have a really good grip of engineering concepts and it’s great to be able to apply my skills to a real-world situation.”
Adam’s enthusiasm is catching. He has recently started a part-time job with consulting engineering company Don Thomson which is based in Wellington’s inner city suburb of Northland. Adam is one of three engineering interns working for the business while completing their studies.
 “Encouraging younger generations to choose engineering as a future career is paramount to New Zealand’s construction industry. At Don Thomson Consulting Engineers we actively mentor new engineering graduates, and the students we have taken on from WelTec have had the right practical skills to fit in well with our companies’ practices. Adam himself has been an integral part of our team, and with one on one mentoring from our senior engineers is on track to fulfil his childhood dream of being involved with large scale construction projects,” says Don Thomson.
Post study with WelTec Adam is keen to carry on and work towards recognition of his professional competence through IPENZ membership and registration.
Don Thomas Consulting Engineers Ltd interns, Josh Jager, Adam Webber and Anthony Perkins.
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This week, WelTec lecturers Joany Grima and Leanne Nicholas (pictured), will present their findings into waste minimisation practices at festivals to delegates at the Waste Minimisation (WasteMINZ) New Zealand annual conference. The pilot study, funded by a WelTec research and enterprise grant, explored the waste minimisation experience from a festival audience perspective at six summer festivals. The study also looked into the role of local government in guiding and facilitating waste minimisation measures in an events context.
“For some festivals, adopting waste minimisation measures is a priority; while for others, there is room for improvement,” says Joany. “Our project investigated waste minimisation at both green-field and street festivals – events that take control of a site.”
The study found that guidance from local government varied considerably, as did the festival audience waste minimisation experience. While a number of festivals strive to divert waste from landfill, others do not. “Ultimately, we’d like to see a minimum standard of waste management at events adopted at local council level across the country,” says Leanne. “There is also scope to introduce a Love Festivals, Hate Waste campaign, modeled on the recently launched Love Food Hate Waste movement.” The next stage of the three-year study will focus on an in depth investigation of the barriers and facilitators toward waste minimisation at New Zealand festivals, from the perspective of local councils, festival organisers and festival attendees.
“If you see us at a festival this summer taking notes about rubbish, please share your feedback,” says Joany. “Collectively, festivals have a significant environmental impact, so the more we can learn from each other and share about waste minimisation, the better our festivals can be.”
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Bachelor of Hospitality Management (BHM) student Jasmine Salter presents research project into the New Zealand perspective of food waste education in secondary schools.
WelTec Tutor Leanne Nicholas says Bachelor of Hospitality Management (BHM) students benefit from industry involvement while studying, “This degree allows students to integrate opportunities to utilise their previous studies, pursue areas of passion and challenge themselves. By working with a Hospitality industry client in the exploration of a contemporary issue or in the resolution of a work based problem, students have the opportunity to research an area of special interest to them." The research paper for the BHM has seen each student work alongside an organisation to complete a research proposal, and in-depth literature review, consider data collection and data analysis methods, write a final report with recommendations.
BHM student Jasmine Salter's study builds upon her previous research in Sustainable Food and beverage management, in which she explored the concepts of green design, pollution prevention, cleaner production and energy use in regard to sustainability of food and beverage enterprises.
Jasmine's research was an exploratory qualitative study into the New Zealand perspective of food waste education in secondary schools on behalf of Kaibosh, a Wellington not-for-profit food rescue organisation. The objective of the research was to provide insight into the gaps in the NZ secondary school food waste minimisation curriculum, investigate overseas perspectives and consider the role of resources developed. Via document analysis Jasmine identified that food waste minimisation education significantly decreases in the secondary sector within a New Zealand context and that there is a gap between the contributions of government to the field to that of not-for-profit organisations. This study will assist Kaibosh with present strategic decisions on entering the Food waste minimisation education field, has provided guidance on potential strategic alliances with organisations already providing this style of education and awareness on educational resources already inexistence for this market.
"Collaborating with WelTec Bachelor of Hospitality student Jasmine Salter on her research project was extremely valuable, and a real pleasure, for the team at Kaibosh. Jasmine's research project was delivered to us containing a depth of practical information, findings and recommendations which we will use to make tangible and real decisions in our operational delivery. Our collaboration with Jasmine has been an extremely beneficial experience for Kaibosh and our work towards Zero Food Poverty and Zero Food Waste," Matt Dagger General Manager Kaibosh Food Rescue.
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Two new post graduate programmes will be available through the Wellington ICT graduate School - a partnership between WelTec, Whitireia and Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). A Post Graduate Certificate and a Post Graduate Diploma in Information and Communications Technology. Find out more here
Developed with industry in mind the qualifications involve students completing an internship and special topic and/or project courses which can be adapted to a particular context or need that industry has. "These are exciting qualifications that we believe will appeal to Wellington ICT companies and those with a large ICT workforce within their company structure. The qualifications are very applied which is important for ICT skill development," Mick Jays Head of WelTec's School of Business and IT. |
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Internships for business students are on the rise. WelTec's School of Business & IT has been busy working with the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment which has invited our graduates to apply for MBIE's procurement internship programme. Edwina Gillespie – MBIE's Senior Advisor Capability and two of her colleagues recently presented to 90 business students on these fantastic opportunities.
As well as formal internships WelTec students are encouraged and supported to work in industry while they are studying. "I am working alongside companies both big and small to build the future of our students and their companies," says Conrad Spohr Student Project Co-ordinator School of Business and IT. And there's a significant increase in the number of opportunities available to students.
 More than sixty Business Management students have been working with local business on a variety of projects. Projects have ranged from assisting companies with growing brand awareness and strategy for tapping into new markets, to developing Human Resource policy and processes including Health and Safety in the workplace.
Employers who are keen to offer opportunities to business students should contact Conrad Spohr Student Project Co-ordinator School of Business & IT on Conrad.Spohr@weltec.ac.nz or 027 2004368. |
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Give your employees a head start for 2017. WelTec offers an exciting range of summer classes that may benefit your company. Courses start 7 November with a short break over Christmas and New Year.
More information is on our website, or download our Trimester 3 programme guide.
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Chief Hair Designer Cherie McIntyre checks in on WelTec hairdressing student Casper-Rose Marama backstage at WOW®.
WelTec hairdressing and makeup artistry students have been busy working backstage applying their skills to more than 40 models at the internationally acclaimed World of WearableArt™ Awards Show. WelTec hairdressing tutors Lesley Whitecliffe-Smith and Michelle McAuley prepared the students in the lead up to opening night and mentored the students as they worked backstage on WOW®.
“Students are doing lots of pigtails, partings, barrel curl settings, braidings as well as styling on some of the male models at this year’s World of WearableArt™ Awards Show. Working on WOW® is incredible and all the students are very excited to have this opportunity,” says Lesley.
“The students do practice sessions with WOW®’s Chief Hair Designer Cherie McIntyre where she demonstrates and talks them through what they need to do. Working on WOW® means the students can experience another element of hairdressing outside of salon work. WOW® has been exclusive to WelTec for hair and make-up since it started in Wellington 11 years ago - it has opened up so many opportunities for our graduates.”
Having been involved in WOW® for more than 20 years Cherie McIntyre still gets a buzz from seeing students working on the models. “Because I've been doing this for a long time you get a good sense of what you need to show them and teach them. You see from the first day how much they grow, and they see the fruits of the labours on stage.”
Casper-Rose Marama, a WelTec hairdressing student views the opportunity to be part of WOW® as motivating and really inspiring. “Everything's different, it's not repetitive work. It's creative and quite artistic, which is what I really like about it. When I got the opportunity to be part of the show, it really spiced things up.”
“It’s incredibly exciting for students so early on in their career to have an opportunity to work on WOW® which is one of the largest scale and leading creative productions on New Zealand’s arts calendar,” says Chris Gosling. “People wanting to study creative technologies and applied arts such as these students, will soon have the opportunity to enrol at Te Auaha – the New Zealand Institute of Applied Creativity, which will bring together related programmes from WelTec and Whitireia. Te Auaha will lend itself to these sorts of opportunities including fashion runways, photography shoots and dance productions. It will definitely complement all the things these students are doing backstage and on-stage at WOW®.”
To find our all the latest information on Te Auaha visit www.teauaha.com/news/
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Dr Frances Hughes speaking at the launch of the Masters of Professional Practice event.
Whitireia Community Polytechnic (Whitireia) and the Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) have joined forces maximising resources and capabilities to create and deliver new Masters and Postgraduate qualifications (diploma and certificate) for Professional Practice for people working in the health and social services sector.
The nationally renowned Faculty of Health Te Kura Hauora at Whitireia and the School of Health and Social Services Te Hau Tapu me te Puna Oranga at WelTec, have joint accreditation for three interdisciplinary post graduate programmes enabling industry practitioners from the health and social practice workforce to undertake a post graduate pathway to a Master’s degree, the Master of Professional Practice (with optional endorsement in Education or Leadership) and the complementary Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Practice and Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice.
Chris Gosling says both tertiary institutions are regarded as leaders in academic delivery for health and social practice. “Our reputation for quality education in nursing particularly the Bachelor of Nursing Māori and Bachelor of Nursing Pacific, paramedic, counselling, social work, addictions, and other delivery in emerging areas such as youth development makes us well placed to provide a cohesive package of postgraduate training options for the health and social services sectors.”
Iwi, Pasifika communities and industry partners from across the country contributed to the new qualifications which have seen more than eighty people enrol. “Our collaborative approach to postgraduate programme development has been evident in the overall curriculum design for these programmes, appealing to many health and social service professionals wanting to further their skills working in interdisciplinary teams, leadership and development, and increasing their knowledge in their chosen discipline,” says Dr Maria Ulloa, head of the Professional Practice programmes at WelTec and Whitireia.
“The New Zealand Health Strategy (released by the Ministry of Health April 2016) notes a strong desire for better collaboration between health and social services. These postgraduate qualifications, which are attracting people from different professions, are supporting health practitioners to learn how to work well as part of interdisciplinary teams.
“These qualifications support that objective and we are seeing development of greater trust and collaboration among the people participating in the integrated learning modules. There is potential to considerably reduce fragmentation across the sector through collaborative study pathways such as through qualifications being offered by Whitireia and WelTec,” says Dr Ulloa.
The new suite of postgraduate programmes were celebrated at an event on 7 September attended by Dr Frances Hughes Chief Executive Officer of the International Council of Nurses, Mr Chai Chuah Director-General of Health Ministry of Health, David Waters Chief Executive of Ambulance New Zealand, Lisa Phillips Addiction Practitioner for Wellington Addiction Services and currently studying the Master of Professional Practice.
More information about the new qualifications can be found here
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The inaugural meeting of the Master of Professional Practice Industry Partnership Committee has been held with the Committee providing valuable feedback on our delivery in this area.
Back row, left to right: Dr Maria Ulloa, Programme Manager, Professional Practice Programmes, Wendy Trimmer, Academic Leader, Faculty of Health, Whitireia, Carmel Haggerty, Acting Dean, Faculty of Health, Whitireia, Chris Gosling, Chief Executive, WelTec and Whitireia, Huia Peachey, Associate Head of School, School of Health and Social Services, WelTec, Lawrence Arps, Director Teaching and Learning, Whitireia, Dr Julia Hennessy, Director Teaching and Learning, WelTec, Karen Blakey, Acting Head of School, School of Health and Social Services.
Front row, left to right: David Waters, Chief Executive, Ambulance NZ, Claire Jennings, Associate Director of Nursing, Hutt Valley DHB, Andrea McCance, Director of Nursing & Midwifery, Capital Coast DHB, Lloyd Martin, Educator, Praxis, Hineamoa Tirikatene, Approval Assessor, Ministry of Social Development.
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The Wellington Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Consortium has met twice this quarter focused on supporting students to achieve, and be placed into work and higher level study.
More than 200 students are participating in the initiative this year which is supported by WelTec and Whitireia, a number of employers including Hawkins, Transmission Gully and M2PP, Iwi and Pasifika.
Māori Pasifika Trades Training students undertake a level 3 or 4 pre-trade qualification and are also awarded a Passport to Work which includes driver licensing, site safety, timeliness and other skills required to be work-ready.
Two graduates of the programme were recently profiled. Jade McMahon (pictured below with manager Steve Reynolds) - a painter and decorator working at SR Decorating, and mechanical engineer Raymon Jones (pictured below). Read their stories here and here
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Engineering Students Recognised
We would like to congratulate two of our engineering students.
 Ruslaan Riyaz is an Engineering Technologist at Beca.
Ruslaan was the recipient of the Institute of Engineering Technology top student award this year. WelTec's School of Engineering very much appreciates the support of the IET in terms of recognising our top engineers and also contributing to our institution as a member of the Engineering Industry Partnership Committee which makes a significant contribution to the development and currency of our engineering programmes.
David Owen from the IET and Ruslaan Riyaz.
 Anamika Nampoothiry is a high achiever. Having attained top results at Queen Margaret College in Wellington as well as in International Baccalaureate examinations, Anamika’s success has continued and been recognised at one of the highest levels in New Zealand.
Anamika, who wants to become a Civil Engineer, received one of twelve International Student Excellence Awards from Deputy Prime Minister Bill English last Friday. The awards recognise the Wellington region’s best all round international students.
Anamika is currently studying with WelTec and will, as part of her Bachelor of Engineering Technology, specialise in Water and Waste Water Management. Anamika views water as the “new gold” with many countries, including her home country of India, facing issues with lower water tables and high water scarcity. Through her studies Anamika wants to learn how to build sustainable solutions to water problems all over the world. She feels that water creates life, and that there is no better place to learn water management principles than in New Zealand.
Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency (WREDA) Chief Executive Chris Whelan says international students are an important part of New Zealand’s education community. “International students not only make a valuable economic contribution to Wellington, but have an incredibly important cultural impact on their school communities. We’ve developed these awards to recognise the contribution made by individual students.
“Wellington has world-class education providers that act as a magnet for talented international students to study here and succeed,” says Chris Whelan. WREDA received 90 award entries from primary school-aged children to post graduate students from which a judging panel had difficulty in narrowing it down to just 12 winners.
Currently 780 international students (more than 560 Equivalent Full-time students) study at WelTec.
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Jobs Brokerage Team for WelTec and Whitireia; Tame Ngaheke, Tane Karepa and Tui Bradbrook.
Please contact the jobs brokerage team to discuss your staffing requirements. Tame Ngaheke, Tane Karepa, Tui Bradbrook are available to work with you if you need skilled graduates to meet your workforce requirements.
Contact them as follows:
Tui Bradbrook on Mobile: 027 440 8676 or Email: tui.bradbrook@weltec.ac.nz
Tame Ngaheke on Mobile: 021 546 653 or Email: tame.ngaheke@weltec.ac.nz
Tane Karepa on Mobile: 027 4065031 or Email: tane.karepa@whitireia.ac.nz
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November: 1-3
Christmas Lunch: December 6 - 8 , 13 -15, 20 - 22
Christmas Dinner: December 6 - 8
Visit our website for menus and more information about the restaurant.
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