3 Jun 2020
In last month’s Budget, the Government signalled the importance of skills training to support New Zealand’s economic recovery with the announcement of a $320 million targeted training fund.
The Government announced part of that fund will provide for all apprenticeships and other vocational qualifications, including the New Zealand Diploma in Engineering (NZDE), which will be available free of fees for the next 30 months.
The welcome decision to include engineering qualifications in this package will present exciting opportunities for a broad spectrum of people to move or transition into engineering technician careers, where we have already been experiencing long-term skills shortages.
The decision is also ongoing recognition of the importance of engineering skills to the country and follows on from the targeted funding for engineering education that was provided through the Engineering Education to Employment initiative.
The value that engineering adds to the economy was highlighted in our recent Value of Engineering report, which concluded that engineering positions produce on average $213,000 of GDP per employee – nearly twice as much as the average New Zealand worker.
