Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora have co-developed a tailored cybersecurity education programme for all New Zealanders, reflecting inclusive values to make it more accessible to people of all cultures. Te Whatu Ora is ready to take on up to 10 paid apprentices under the programme.
“The pandemic ramped up what was already an incredible rate of digitisation, and that spells huge opportunities for people looking for a career with great prospects,” said Vanessa Sorenson, managing director, Microsoft New Zealand.
“Cybersecurity isn’t just about technical skill – we need people who understand human behaviour, or who can teach vital safety skills. So we want to open those doors as wide as possible.”
Anne Fitisemanu, CEO of TupuToa, said the programme was designed to reflect the needs and experiences of all New Zealanders, applying the organisation’s experience of supporting Māori and Pacific Island peoples into careers.
“Protecting sensitive data and privacy is difficult when you don’t have a true understanding of what that means to different people. Te Pūkenga has nationwide reach that can help more tauira into new career pathways, while making Aotearoa a much safer place to be.”
Te Pūkenga is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest tertiary education provider, bringing together the country’s former institutes of technology and polytechnics and industry training organisations, to provide on-campus, on-the-job and online learning opportunities.
The announcement has been welcomed by the Ministry of Social Development.
“This programme provides an opportunity for people to upskill and move into skilled employment, and we are proud to be supporting Te Pūkenga with this new endeavour,” said Mark Goldsmith, regional commissioner for Auckland Central/East.
While the programme is available to all, Māori and Pacific Island tauira will be further supported in their training with wraparound pastoral care from TupuToa, including access to further TupuToa programmes such as Kōkiri Workshops (work readiness workshops) and opportunities to access financial literacy training.
Te Whatu Ora national chief information security officer Sonny Taite said he was looking forward to helping build information security teams who reflect the diversity of the Aotearoa health sector.
“Tauira will earn while they learn, which opens up training opportunities to a much wider group of people. We will not only be providing apprenticeships but a direct pathway for rangatahi and anyone else wanting a change in career to advance into senior cyber security roles.”
