Despite strong lobbying, the single national campus remains the Government's preferred option, with existing polytechnics becoming regional campuses of the new institute.
"A new Institute will start on April 1 2020 and will be a new kind of organisation that provides on-the-job and off-the-job learning,'' Mr Hipkins said.
"The head office will not be in Auckland or Wellington, and a charter will be set out in legislation to make sure a number of bottom lines are met.''
Other key components of the reforms are:
* Establishing four to seven industry-governed Workforce Development Councils;
* New Regional Skills Leadership Groups set up;
* Supporting workplace learning to shift from Industry Training Organisations to training providers;
* Centres of Vocational Excellence set up at regional campuses;
* Greater Maori involvement, especially through Te Taumata Aronui, a Maori Crown Tertiary Education Group;
* A unified and simplified dual funding system.
The polytechnic sector has been under pressure in recent years, with several institutions recording deficits and falling rolls, while some industries have claimed not enough students were being trained in their fields.
Otago and SIT have bucked that trend, with high rolls and a profitable business model, and have called on the Government to allow them to retain their autonomy.
However, Mr Hipkins said vocational education, trades training and on-the-job training had been allowed to drift for too long, and the sector faced long-term challenges the Government was committed to fixing.
"The plain truth is that while there are some bright spots, the current system is not set up to produce skilled people at the scale we need,'' he said.
The reforms were intended to tackle widespread skills shortages across most industry sectors, Mr Hipkins said.
"New Zealand needs to lift productivity and for that to happen we need more companies to be involved in training and taking on more apprentices.
"Currently, however, nearly nine out of 10 of our businesses are not training through industry training, yet at the same time, 71% of employers surveyed say there is, or will soon be, a skills shortage in their industry area.''
The changes would give industry greater control over vocational education and training and make the system more responsive to employers' needs, Mr Hipkins said.
"We need to make sure that trades and vocational education are recognised and valued.
"There are great, well-paid jobs available for people with the right skills. We just aren't meeting the skills needs at the moment.''
The Workforce Development Councils are intended to replace and expand most of the existing roles of industry training organisations, while the Regional Skills Leadership Groups would work with the education, immigration and welfare systems in each region to identify local skill need.
Funding would be simplified, with the intention of there being greater integration between on and off the job learning, and see learners receive more work-relevant support, Mr Hipkins said.
Transition to the new system would take three to four years, to ensure continuity for students and employers he said.
"Learners should enrol in the education provider of their choice as they normally would in 2019 and 2020, including in multi-year programmes, and I encourage people in the workplace to keep training and employers to encourage more workers to sign up.''
After the announcement, Mayor Tim Shadbolt said Southland would fight the decision.
“I believe our community is outraged about this proposal and we're going to do everything we can do to stop that.”
SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds agreed.
“It is hugely disappointing for SIT and Southland community but we will let the Southland community speak on that so we can focus on our staff and students. The message will pass to them is business as usual.”
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Comments
4 good + 12 poor equals one good? Interesting math.
Socialism at it finest. Marx would be proud. More govt thought control. Every course will include climate change, inequality, feminism, colonisation, lgbt+, etc there wont be much time left for actual skills training.
how many will shut / how many sacked is this what the government calls delivery
Here's an idea for a great social experiment. Let the south island be run be National and the north island by labour. If you support labour/greens move north, if you support National/Act etc move south. Let's see which state is better of in 10 years...
The assumption that one large bureaucracy is going to improve education is naive. This will be a hard lesson for a generation of kids, sacrificed on the altar of ideology. At least though this will speed up the collapse of state education in general, and force us to look for education solutions elsewhere.
It had to happen. Too many courses not getting people jobs. Now the same for universities & DHBs.
Sammy = all courses include that now! As for your other comment = the North Island would remain the power house. the south would be worse off.
philip = The last govt (yours) bailed out Polytechs several times then said "no more". The Nats had planned to do this anyway.
PB = Only a few decades ago we had ONE schooling system. It worked fine until Boards of Trustees came in. Now we have schools in strife. Your eloquence (which didn't make sense) was the result of a system called "The Dept Of Education". Remember it?
the national government is not my government ///// its this labour government that's the joke of the year/ as anyone can see. list of fails. gets longer / you cant say its not... PM interested in world affairs but keeps away from problems in new Zealand/ if people cant see what a flop they are get classes polytecs stuffed. under the red flag
"This Government was forced to step in and bail several polytechnics out with $100 million, and we know without significant change, things will keep getting worse.''
So your idea of "significant change" is to pass the debt onto few profitable polytechs and break their necks too? Very clever indeed.
"The minister has also confirmed that existing cash reserves will be ring-fenced for investment in the regions where the investment has been accumulated."
Mikalai = don't jump to conclusions could be a good course at a polytech!
"Education and the State" 1965 by West
A description of how education standards generally fell, since the 19th century, as the state wormed its way into a task that rightly sit with parents and employers. A jolly good read.
Also, in the top ten, of Marx and Engels screech, "The Communist Manifesto":
"10. Free education for all children in public schools."
We need to ask ourselves why would controlling education be important to a communist?