More focus on trades in tertiary institutions - Govt

The Student Army on the march in Avondale. Photo / Geoff Sloan

The Government announced today there would be an increased focus on trades at tertiary institutions to cope with increased demand during the rebuild of quake-stricken Christchurch.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce, along with Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, met the chiefs of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technolgy (CPIT) today, and announced the Government would be looking to boost the trades needed as the city began to rebuild.

"We have also been doing, both at a national level and a city level, some work on what the likely demand is...but we can see potential to scale up both the trades training, not just at CPIT but at other polytechnics," Mr Joyce said.

The boost would involve reprioritising courses toward the trades and an increase in funding, but final details were yet to be determined, he said.

"It's very early days in terms of numbers."

CPIT had done a brilliant job getting up and running following the quake, especially considering that their main campus was inside the red zone, Mr Joyce said.

"They have probably been more challenged than any of the other public institutions by the fact that they haven't been able to use Madras Street, which is a big part of their campus."

Chair of CPIT council Jenn Bestwick said the polytechnic had between 20 and 25 per cent of its courses back up and running and hoped to have 80 per cent back within three weeks.

It was too early to say how many students would return, but about 80 per cent had returned to the classes that were running, she said.

At full capacity the polytech had 5000 full time equivalent students.

Mr Joyce also said the Government was concerned about the drop off in international students in the city and said it was working on solutions to attract them back.

- NZPA