Regional Facilitation

What is Regional Facilitation?

The Tertiary Education Strategy 2007-2012 identifies a new role for Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) as part of the tertiary education reforms. From 2007 ITPs have been charged with the responsibility for acting as a regional facilitator and producing a Regional Statement outlining their region’s tertiary education needs, gaps and priorities.

Updated 2008: Regional Facilitation Statement 2008 (PDF, 638kb)

Archived 2007:  Regional Facilitation Statement 2007 (PDF, 516kb)

In 2008 we are required to update the Regional Statement to make sure the regions needs, gaps, priorities and future trends are indentified and current. Regional Facilitation is designed to ensure dialogue between stakeholders and tertiary education providers, as well as increasing collaboration between providers in the region. Stakeholders are community interest groups, industries, national, regional, governmental and other sector groups that have an interest in the provision of tertiary education.

The key objectives of regional facilitation include:

• Building a shared understanding of regional education needs, gaps and priorities;
• Developing system capability at a regional level through collaborative relationships;
• Better outcomes for learners and other stakeholders; and
• Efficiency benefits and capability development for TEOs and stakeholders.

Regional Facilitation seeks to achieve a shared understanding of the tertiary education needs of regions that must be met if we are to make a difference for stakeholders on a regional and national basis. The best way to achieve this level of understanding is to bring education and training providers, Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) and wider stakeholders together to pool information and gain a shared view of tertiary education needs, priorities and gaps. We will be doing this through regional workshops and questionnaires.

Regional Facilitation is not about deciding who is going to respond to the needs of a region. Decisions about public funding of provision will be made by Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) through the investing in a plan process and in the context of the network of provision. These decisions will depend on who is best placed to deliver the education and training needed with the network of provision.

How is the Regional Statement created?

A key function of the regional facilitation role is the development of a high level statement of regional tertiary education needs, gaps and priorities developed after dialogue with stakeholders. For example, the Regional Facilitator initiate forums for all interested stakeholders to gain a shared understanding of the tertiary education and training needs of the region. Forums should include engagement with ITOs at a regional level to ensure the identification of national needs. A discussion of regional national needs may include: Population trends, demographics, social, cultural and economic characteristics of the region. A current analysis may already exist as part of economic development and/or labour market analysis work completed with the region.

Who will use the Regional Statement?

The Regional Statement will be used by tertiary education providers as the base information required in their Investment Plans (replacing charters and profiles). The Regional Statement is also used and accessed by local and central government and other key stakeholders to identify what are the tertiary education needs, gaps, priorities and future trends and how they align with their organisational strategies for the future.

2008 Process

During March and April 2008 workshops will be organised to bring all stakeholders together in the form of workshops to indentify needs, gaps, priorities and future trends. From the information obtained in these collaborative and consultative workshops conclusions and analysis of information will be drawn and used to update the 2007 copy of the Regional Statement. This will be signed off by the Regional Facilitation Steering Committee. The updated Regional Statement is then posted on the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic website and passed on to Tertiary Educations Commission.

For the detailed process, please see the Regional Facilitation Timeline (PDF, 173kb).

Workshops

Workshops were held in the Western Bay, Opotiki and Te Kaha.

Thursday, 1 May 2008. Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Room A3, Windermere Campus, Tauranga

April Regional Facilitation Newsletter (PDF, 599kb)

Questionnaire

We encourage your participation at the regional workshops, but we also understand that due to commitments that some times and dates may clash. If this is the case and you cannot attend any of the workshops we encourage you to provide us with your feedback through our online questionnaire. This will allow us to receive your input and be able to add this with all our other feedback and draw the conclusions, analysis to add the regional reflection into 2008’s Regional Statement.

Regional facilitation is a fluid process and your comments will be considered for additional updates of the 2008 statement or for the 2009 statement.

A copy of the regional statement (PDF, 516kb) 2007 is available for you to download and provide comment on. We encourage you to do this as well as attending the workshops or providing the questionnaire feedback.

Updated 2008: Regional Facilitation Statement 2008 (PDF, 638kb)

What does Regional Facilitation mean for our region?

Regional Facilitation means that tertiary educational provision will become aligned with what our future needs, gaps, priorities and trends show us. We will be looking at the future needs of our labour pool within this region, that will indentify our main industries now and the shifts in the future to make sure that training providers are aware of the needs and gaps. In conclusion this will help with the ever increasing skills shortages and skill demand we are experiencing within our region. This affects us all whether we are a consumer of education (student), education provider, parent, future or current employer, secondary school, recruitment firm, economic development agency, council, Chamber of Commerce, Maori trust, Iwi, International Education provider. Our definition of a stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in tertiary education.