Ski industry at risk

The head of NZSki says proposed changes to industry training organisations could have a big impact on the ski industry.

The Government has proposed major changes to tertiary education, including creating a New Zealand institute of skills and technology and removing responsibility for work-based training from the 11 industry training organisations (ITOs).

NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson was worried that could lead to a loss of training flexibility and, ultimately, could mean the company trained fewer employees.

It trained about 700 employees a year, mainly through ITO Skills Active.

"They tailor a specific programme for us, because we're quite a niche market," Mr Anderson said.

He hoped the Government would not "throw the baby out with the bath water".

"It'll be harder for us to offer the same level of training and support our staff. We would have to look at different approaches.

"It certainly wouldn't be as efficient. We couldn't afford to provide as much training."

Skills Active chief executive Grant Davidson said he was seeking a judicial review in the High Court at Wellington over the consultation period for the proposed changes.

"We knew there was consultation going on around the polytechs, but we had no inkling we would be put on the table."

ITO bosses were called to a meeting in Wellington on February 13 and given a six-week consultation period, he said.

"It reeked of a pre-determined outcome from the minister."

Queenstown's tourism industry could also be affected if the changes went ahead, he said.

He believed the new system would be "more complex and costly", meaning businesses would choose to train staff on the job rather than going through a tertiary provider.

"The whole standard and quality of the local tourism operations could drop."

In a statement, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said vocational training needed to be strengthened "in order for us to ensure the quality of training across all sectors".

He was consulting the industry before any decisions were made, and said a "critically important" factor in any new system would be a stronger industry voice.