Growth & Innovation Pilots

The Growth and Innovation Pilots (Growth Pilots) programme was set up by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in November 2003 to provide funding for tertiary education organisations (TEOs) to develop more extensive linkages with industry within the biotechnology, design, and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors. Growth Pilots funding has supported pilot projects between TEOs and businesses to:

Enhance the relevance to business teaching, learning and research
Nurture entrepreneurship in both TEOs and the biotechnology, design and ICT sectors
Promote two-way sharing of knowledge and expertise between the tertiary sector and industry.

IPENZ, with Massey University acting as the lead provider, has been successful in tendering for three growth pilot projects. Each project has been directed by a consortium of industry and TEO representatives from: Information Technology Association of New Zealand (ITANZ), Software New Zealand (NZSA), The New Zealand Computer Society (NZCS), Telecom, EDS New Zealand, Ignition Partner, Milner Consulting, The HiGrowth Project, Electro technology Industry Training Organisation (ETITO) and the New Zealand Council of Engineering Deans (NZCED).

Growth Pilot One –Engineers and ICT Professionals for the Future (2004)

This project was to identify knowledge and skill gaps in New Zealand’s engineering and computer science sectors to inform the preliminary design of postgraduate qualifications.

Research was conducted in collaboration with ETITO, which was conducting a related project.

The project resulted in a research report whose recommendations were:

That knowledge of international standards, best practice and their importance is introduced to learning programmes for the ICT sector. They should be included in all types of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education programmes offered by tertiary education institutions or other providers.
That professional bodies, industry associations and tertiary education institutions take a greater role in disseminating information on the importance of individuals and companies complying to professional and international standards to achieve global competitiveness.
That a postgraduate qualification is designed in consultation with industry, which incorporates a common set of knowledge, cognitive and technical skills combined with specialist knowledge, technical and cognitive skills and is for engineers and ICT professionals who have recently entered the workplace.
That topics on international standards are introduced to future entrants in undergraduate ICT-related degrees and a culture is created in New Zealand tertiary institutions teaching in ICT, which encourages graduates to continue or return to postgraduate study.

The report is available here:
http://www.ipenz.org.nz/tec_gipi/Docs/
TEC_Research_Report_Final_Version.pdf

Growth Pilot Two - Engineers and ICT Professionals for the Future (2005)

Following the first Growth Pilot project, which recommended the design of a postgraduate qualification, growth pilot funding was accessed to develop such a qualification.
This resulted in the development of the Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Development (Electronics and ICT) as a collaborative certificate to be offered by Massey University, the University of Canterbury, the University of Waikato, and AUT.

For more information see:
http://www.ipenz.org.nz/pgcert/

Growth Pilot Three – Developing Well-qualified ICT Professionals (2006 – 2007)

Having developed the Postgraduate Certificate, active recruitment for the qualification revealed a number of people with interest in enrolling but who were not eligible for post graduate study as they did not have any form of undergraduate degree. Further funding was gained to investigate needs at the undergraduate level.

The project was divided into two parts. The first part was to conduct research in the ICT sector to identify the knowledge and skill gaps of people in engineering and computer science-related roles who need to lift their capability to graduate level.

That research was presented as a report available here: http://www.ipenz.org.nz/tec_gipi/Docs/
Developing-Well-qualified-ICT-Professionals-Report.pdf

The second part of the project, based on the report, led to a workshop with industry representatives and TEOs on 9 May 2007. The goal of the workshop was to consider the recommendations made in the "Developing Well-qualified ICT Professionals" Report March 2007 - to improve the participation rate in professional development and training of those without degree qualifications currently employed within ICT and Electronics industries.

This led to a proposal developed in association with IPENZ and the Hi-growth project to TEC.

The proposal is available below:
http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenz/education_career/documents/
proposal.pdf