Industry training sector delivering better results

The government’s push for more accountability in industry training is starting to pay off with a big increase in credit achievement, says Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce.

Preliminary figures from the Tertiary Education Commission, released by the Minister this morning at the Industry Training Federation’s Annual General Meeting show that between 2008 and 2010 Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) have experienced a 14% increase in total credits achieved.

Mr Joyce says the increased success has come following government moves to focus more on results than raw numbers enrolled in industry training.

“In the last 10 years, government funding for ITOs almost trebled but those increases were not matched with a focus on results. We can kid ourselves that ever more money is the answer, but the number of people that actually get results and new skills is a much more important outcome."

The Tertiary Education Commission advised late last year that 53% of trainees in 2008 (96,831) and 54% in 2009 (100,801) did not receive any credits. In addition, there were 44,400 peopled enrolled in both 2008 and 2009 (i.e. two years) who achieved zero credits across the two year period.

Mr Joyce says if organisations are receiving taxpayer funds they must meet the requirements of that funding and deliver results.

“For ITOs this means they must be delivering actual training – their trainees must be participating and achieving.

“I am pleased ITOs are responding to these performance expectations. The early signs are good."

Mr Joyce says industry training has an important role to play in the tertiary education sector, and the new operational settings, together with the wider policy review, will strengthen that role.