Connecting schools and businesses on the importance of Asia
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The Business Education Partnership was launched in Wellington on 16 November and aims to encourage schools to prepare young New Zealanders for a future with the Asian region. In this case study we look at the INSTEP programme which links Bay of Plenty secondary schools with local businesses.
Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty economic development agency, Priority One runs a programme called INSTEP which for the past seven years has successfully linked the sub-region’s secondary schools with the local business community. The success of the INSTEP programme is its ability to tailor programmes that are relevant to the needs of both local secondary schools and the region’s core business sectors.
One such initiative is the annual principals’ day out, where INSTEP invites principals from the region's eight secondary schools to get out of the office for a day to visit local industry and find out “first hand” about the skill levels, attitude and aptitude required in a particular industry.
Previous principal’s day outs have focused on regionally relevant industries such as horticultural or export manufacturing, but last year professional services company, Beca Engineering, hosted principals for a day to learn about all aspects of the engineering sector. Beca, now a participating business in the Partnership is one of the largest employee-owned engineering and related consultancy services companies in the Asia-Pacific and offers numerous employment opportunities both locally and abroad. In Tauranga, Beca employs 170 staff from 18 different nationalities and has one of the larger engineering design offices in the country.
During the day, principals heard from engineers across a broad spectrum of disciplines, about the particular projects they were involved with, and learnt that Asia represents the engine room fueling Beca’s current and future growth.
“We want to see more young people excited by the opportunities Asia presents, and able to cope with the kinds of challenges a future, increasingly led by Asia, presents. That means, a greater appreciation of Asian contexts, culture and language at secondary school”, says John Revington, Regional Manager for Beca Bay of Plenty/Waikato.
“Beca provided our principals with an opportunity to hear how important Asia awareness is for our young people if they are to have the skills necessary to effectively engage with this rapidly growing region in the future”, says Lyn Parlane who manages INSTEP on behalf of Priority One.
