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Accelerating Aotearoa embarks on National Internship Programme

Date: August 14, 2009

"Growing Workready Graduates" is a collaborative programme across tertiaries that will establish pathways from tertiary education to work, through cooperative education

Cooperative Education is a structured method of combining classroom-based (schools and tertiary) education with practical work (industry) experience.
While the value of cooperative education is broadly understood as a method of increasing the “work readiness” of tertiary graduates, access to programme frameworks supporting employment opportunities and most importantly programme funding to support graduates into work is not widely available outside the University sector. As a result large numbers of tertiary graduates are not able to enjoy the benefits of cooperative education. 

“Growing Work ready Graduates” is a research and implementation project to
• Collect cooperative education experiences  to date ensuring that the significant government & organisational investment & knowledge is not lost
• Evaluate those programmes as a potential  foundation for future collaboration & delivery models
• Develop a collaborative & cohesive platform for future nationwide co-operative education programmes
• Pilot the implementation of the platform with key organisations. (Both  ITP’s and PTEs)

From an industry perspective the programme Increases access to skilled workers by facilitating engagement between employers & graduates by supporting the graduates’ transition from academia to industry and Increasing their ability to tailor talent for tomorrow’s skilled workforce to industry needs.
For Tertiaries and the graduates the initiative provides a framework for the transfer of knowledge gained through academic learning into professional practice.

The research element of the project is has already been initiated and comprises
• A  thorough literature review to ensure understanding of co-operative education in NZ & internationally

• Detailed models of existing programmes paid & unpaid, capstone & graduate projects
• An analysis of the gaps in the process of transitioning graduates  from academia to business
• A SWOT analysis to gain an understanding of the impact on both graduates & employers
To support the engagement of Tertiaries in the study a workshop was held at the NACCQ Conference in early July 10th.

Following ethics committee approval to commence the research data will be collected in the form of questionnaires that contain both open ended and demographic questions from 50 Interns, 30 Employers, 7 Tertiary Programme Providers and 9 Regional Partners.

Proposed deliverables of the initiative include:
• A working model to support a range of co-operative education programmes, nationwide
• Support for the growth of an “internship culture” within New Zealand business
• Increased propensity for employers to participate in co-operative education programmes
• Enhanced success rates of co-operative education as a foundation learning experience for tertiary graduates
• Delivery of a limited pilot in Auckland in 2009
Accelerating Auckland is currently partnered in this initiative by Unitec who has provided initial funding for a researcher.  Further tertiary partner include MIT, EIT, NMIT and Otago Polytechnic.