Tai Poutini Polytechnic redefines its purpose
There’s a lot going on at Tai Poutini Polytechnic as it takes part in a national tertiary sector review and redefines itself to ensure the sustainable future of quality tertiary education on the West Coast. Chief Executive Alex Cabrera talks about what’s underway.
Q: What is the purpose of tertiary education on the West Coast?
Tai Poutini Polytechnic has been working for the past 18 months to redefine the purpose of tertiary education on the West Coast. We need to adapt to a new way of working that is relevant and meets the needs of our community. Our future is in connecting people with opportunities, making connections with our community and supporting the wider economic development of the West Coast. We must play a key role in connecting our people with opportunities in our region. This is all part of our new ‘social investment’ approach - we want to broaden our scope to support initiatives and activities that benefit the wider region.
Q: What changes are happening at TPP right now?
We’ve spent the past 18 months re-focusing and tackling the strategic and financial challenges that make our current operating model unsustainable. The good news is that central agencies have signalled confidence in our approach to become a more sustainable, effective institute with significant funding support received from the Government.
Q: Why is this new way of working necessary?
It’s no secret Tai Poutini Polytechnic faces financial and strategic challenges – challenges that are shared by many regional New Zealand polytechnics. We’re well-aware of the issues and we’ve been working to fix them. You might have heard through our regular updates or in the news about changes we’ve made to improve quality, cut costs and ensure our students are being taught the skills needed to fill job vacancies across our region.
Q: What does Tai Poutini Polytechnic hope to achieve in the future?
We’ve put in a lot of hard work to address our challenges. Together we’re making solid progress but there’s still a long way to go. We’re securing our future with the concept of ‘creating better together’. The need for us to work together for the benefit of our region guides all our activity and decision-making. Tai Poutini Polytechnic’s entire purpose has shifted in recent times: above all else, we’re becoming an organisation that values meaningful and sustainable partnerships.
Q: What needs to happen to make sure Tai Poutini Polytechnic is a success?
We’re truly ’creating better together’ – working with our community and industry to create a better future for all our region. Regional tertiary education in New Zealand is facing some of its most challenging times, with a Ministerial review of the entire sector underway. The days of students enrolling in generic training programmes with no certain job outcomes are gone. We’re working on a paradigm shift in the way education is delivered. With local employers and industry, we’ll identify regional skills gaps and potential opportunities, then help our students get ready for the real jobs our region needs.
Q: What kinds of improvements have you made so far?
We’re working to get Tai Poutini Polytechnic ready for a new way of working. We’ve already saved more than $4 million and we’ve brought more rigour to our academic processes. We’ve also stepped-up our game in the community, working to support local events and community groups, and listening to the needs of the region. We want to play an important part in developing our communities and growing our economy. We will be putting a big effort on social investment in our communities.
Q: What can we expect next?
Creating better together is our focus as we start a shared path to even better outcomes for the West Coast. It’s underpinned by five key areas to ensure Tai Poutini Polytechnic is a key part of our shared future: quality, finances, organisational structure, clear focus, and putting people first. We’ll track progress in these areas and keeping our community, our industry and our partners updated as to how we are doing through regular newsletters and on our website. We’ll ask for input along the way: with our community, we will achieve our community goal of ensuring sustainable, high quality tertiary training for the West Coast.