CPIT’s Innovative Trades Training Proposal to Receive Government Funding
Minister of Education, Trevor Mallard, will visit CPIT’s Trades Innovation Institute today to formally announce the
approval of funding, through the TEC’s Partnerships for Excellence scheme (PFX), for CPIT’s simulated subdivision
proposal.
The concept for the subdivision came about after electricity company, Orion Ltd, approached CPIT to seek urgent support
in addressing the skill and knowledge gap in training for electrical power distribution. CPIT quickly gained the support
of other industry partners to build the concept into a simulated subdivision with all the features and services of an
authentic development.
Students will utilise the subdivision to learn key infrastructural skills such as roading, power and telecoms
distribution work, residential and commercial building construction, and other infrastructural projects, in a real-world
environment.
“There is a critical shortage of qualified, skilled trades people to build, maintain, upgrade and fix New Zealand
infrastructure,” says Fiona Haynes, Dean of CPIT’s Trades Innovation Institute. “This shortage threatens New Zealand’s
ability to grow economically and support the knowledge economy.”
“This innovative subdivision solution addresses an immediate skills and experience need, enabling CPIT to increase the
number of qualified trades graduates by 20%, some in trades where training has been shelved since the downturn in
apprenticeships in the 1990s, but which are now urgently needed such as plumbing and block laying,” says Mrs Haynes.
A large stretch of vacant land at CPIT’s Sullivan Ave campus has been allocated for the project, with industry partners
making a significant contribution in terms of the provision of construction equipment, materials and labour. The PFX
funding will further enhance this investment by contributing to the initial set up of the subdivision as well as to a
Learning and Innovation Centre.
CPIT’s Trades Innovation Institute is the South Island leader in trade training and currently trains over 3200 students
a year from its Sullivan Avenue campus.
ENDS