Joe Daw

New Zealand’s award-winning marine training organisation, the NZMAC ITO, has been transformed into a new comprehensive marine and specialist technologies training academy.
A new marine and specialist technologies training academy has been established.

New Zealand’s award-winning Marine & Composites Transitional Industry Training Organisation (NZMAC TITO) will soon be transformed in response to government reforms of vocational education (RoVE) in 2021.

In a move 20 months in the making, the team behind the organisation has sought to be recognised as a private training establishment (PTE), allowing it to relaunch as the Marine and Specialised Technologies Academy of New Zealand (MAST Academy).

As a PTE, registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, it will have charitable recognition and be responsible for the supply and delivery of the future skills needs of the marine and composites industries.

Having previously won ‘Best Marine Apprenticeship Programme in the World’ and with a system licensed globally by international training providers, the marine and composites industries successfully argued this training was too valuable to New Zealand to lose.

“Alongside the off-job block courses, on-the-job training and school-to-work programmes we currently offer, becoming MAST Academy will allow us to provide much more specific training and specialised courses, to meet individual and business needs,” says MAST Academy CEO, Chris van der Hor.

Plans for MAST Academy include continuing the existing successes of the programmes offered by NZMAC TITO, and eventually expanding its services with the establishment of a campus.

“Through MAST Academy we can provide more support and respond to learners and business needs in any setting, through the future creation of a dedicated campus where we will offer specialised classroom tutoring and in-depth practical training courses. Through this facility MAST Academy will also provide pre-trade courses; helping learners get a hands-on feel for the industry, preparing students for a head start in the workforce, and ensuring we are matching the right individuals with the right employers for lasting career outcomes,” says van der Hor.

New Zealand’s marine and composites industries strongly advocated that they needed a bespoke, unified and sustainable vocational educational system to build successful businesses. With the launch of MAST Academy on 2 August, learners and employers can feel confident people will continue to be trained with the necessary skills and knowledge that have defined New Zealand’s industries to date.

NZMAC is the third of the 11 Transitional ITOs to gain approval from the Tertiary Education Commission Board for its Transition Plan and to sign a Transfer Agreement, to transfer its Arranging Training activities to MAST Academy.

The transition of activities from the TITOs to other entities under RoVE, represents an important milestone for the integration of on-job, on-campus and online vocational training.

The transition of all of the TITOs’ activities must take place on or before 31 December 2022.

The Tertiary Education Commission Board approved the Transition Plans of Competenz and Connexis last month.