Responsive Education and Training: From Policy to Practice
He mātauranga urupare mō te ako me te whakangungu: mai i te aronga kaupapa here ki te whakatinanatanga whai hua.
The 2026 ITENZ Conference focuses on how vocational and tertiary education providers translate policy intent into effective practice.
ITENZ Conference 2026
Tuesday 15th - Wednesday 16th September 2026
Novotel Rotorua Lakeside
1115/1093 Tutanekai Street, Rotorua 3010
2026 Conference dates and venue confirmed
We are pleased to announce that the 2026 ITENZ Conference will be taking place at the Novotel Rotorua Lakeside on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th of September 2026.
Rotorua is renowned for its rich Māori culture, world-class spas and wellness experiences, otherworldly geothermal landscapes, and incredible backyard of lush forests and sparkling lakes.
Rotorua is connected by air to all major cities and is no more than three hours’ drive to more than half of New Zealand’s population, including Auckland.
Destination
Rotorua is a destination that will surprise and enchant
From the spectacular Redwoods Forest, the Geothermal wonders of Hells Gate and Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. And the enduring legacy of Whakarewarewa Living Māori Village and Te Puia and so much more….
Get excited and check out what Rotorua has to offer on the Destination Rotorua site.
Helpful News:
Air New Zealand enhances Rotorua schedule to better support business travel – December 3, 2025
Flight links to Rotorua Airport has great direct connections with Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch that fit in perfectly around our conference in September 2026 the week of the conference.
Rotorua Arrivals
From Auckland: 9:30AM & 7:05PM (ATR72)
From Wellington: 8:00AM & 5:30PM (Q300)
From Christchurch: 1:00PM & 3:55PM (ATR72)
Rotorua Departures
To Auckland: 6:50AM & 4:30PM (ATR72)
To Wellington: 8:30AM & 6:00PM (Q300)
To Christchurch: 10:05AM & 1:35PM (ATR72)
Venue
Novotel Rotorua Lakeside
The ITENZ conference will be hosted at the Novotel Rotorua Lakeside Hotel. Nestled between Lake Rotorua and the vibrant Eat Streat precinct loaded with Restaurants and Bars for all tastes.
The Hotel with its 4.5-star accommodation and spacious conference spaces will be a great host venue for the 2026 conference.
A 10% accommodation discount* is available to conference delegates at both the Novotel Rotorua Lakeside and Ibis Rotorua which is located directly adjacent to the Novotel Rotorua Lakeside.
Please use the link below to secure your accommodation.
*Discount applies to stays between 13 – 17 September 2026 only. If you wish to stay outside of these dates, kindly contact our reservations team on h1874-re1@accor.com to request a quote.
Speaker Submissions
Your opportunity to be a part of the conference
The 2026 ITENZ Conference will explore how the vocational and tertiary education sector translates policy intent into effective practice.
Across the sector, expectations are increasing around skills relevance, learner success, regional delivery, system integration, and international engagement and growth. Providers are required to be dynamic and responsive to ongoing policy reform, while continuing to deliver high-quality education and training that meets the needs of learners, industry, communities, and the economy.
This conference will explore what responsive education and training looks like in practice, how providers are implementing change, and what is working across different contexts and delivery models.
We invite speakers to share practical experiences, implementation insights, evidence-informed approaches, and case studies that demonstrate how policy is being interpreted and applied on the ground. We welcome proposals for presentations or facilitated workshops relating to domestic and/or international education, and from across the tertiary education system.
Speaking proposals will be presented to a judging panel who will decide on the selected submissions. Authors of the selected submissions will be informed after the judging panel’s decisions. Please note: All successful speaker submissions accepted into the programme will need to pay conference registration fees.
Speaker submissions close 12th June 2026
Your presentation might be built around one or more of the following topic areas:
- Responding to the tertiary education strategy
- Responding to the International Education Growth Strategy
- Translating policy into operational practice
- Leading and managing responsive and flexible organisations
- Curriculum and course design
- Qualification and credential development
- AI policy and practice
- Assessment and moderation policy and practice
- Responding to changes in quality assurance
- Responding to industry and workplace skills needs
- Responding to regional needs
- Responding to changing learner needs
- Delivery models
- Literacy and numeracy
- Learner success, retention, and progression strategies
- Meeting needs of priority learners
- Increasing Productivity
Exhibitors
Become an Exhibitor
We invite you to join us for this promotional opportunity to showcase your products and services and to interact with prospective customers in the New Zealand PTE sector.
Please browse the below details and when you are ready click the button below to book your stand for Rotorua on the 15-16 September 2026.
Discussions opportunities with Warren Bassett warren@twzl.nz
2.4m wide Exhibition Stand with x2 staff: $2949+GST
- 2.4m x 1.2m display space. For early registrations 3m wides stands available as supply lasts.
- Black velcro walls 2.3m tall, side panels will extend out 1.2m. LED Track Spotlights – wall mounted
- Power and free Wi-Fi access.
- Refreshments: (morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea (for two onsite staff).
- Networking and Awards function attendance for two onsite staff).
- Multiple stands are available
- 45 sec turbo pitch opportunity (Three presentation slides)
3m wide Exhibition Stand with x2 staff (Limited availability): $2949+GST
- 3m x 1.8 or 1.2m display space.
- Black velcro walls 2.3m tall, side panels will extend out 1.2m. LED Track Spotlights – wall mounted
- Power and free Wi-Fi access.
- Refreshments: (morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea (for two onsite staff).
- Networking and Awards function attendance for two onsite staff).
- Multiple stands are available
- 45 sec turbo pitch opportunity (Three presentation slides)
Setup:
12:00 – 5:00pm, Monday 14 September 2026
Event:
Tuesday 15 September 2026, 8:15am – 5:00pm
Wednesday 16 September 2026, 8:15am – 4:00pm
Pack up:
Wednesday 16 September 2026, 4:00 – 5:30pm
Download the Exhibition Layout Here:
ITENZ 2026v03
Exhibition activities
Exhibition passport
A printed passport with exhibitors’ logo to encourage conference participants to engage with every exhibitor. The winners of the game will receive a donated gift from exhibitors.
Social cocktail function and Awards presentations
At the conclusion of Day 1 of the conference.
Sponsors
Platinum Sponsor
Visit Instructure to find out more about how they can support you.
The makers of Canvas LMS, Instructure is an education technology company that’s obsessed with student success. In New Zealand and Australia, Instructure is the technology provider powering My eQuals, the official tertiary digital credentials network for the region.
Gold Sponsor
PeoplePartners is a strategic workforce partner helping businesses build high-performing offshore teams that drive efficiency, profitability, and scalable growth across Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada. Through workforce re-engineering, PeoplePartners designs dedicated teams from the ground up—tailored to each client’s needs, culture, and industry. With no upfront fees, no lock-in contracts, and a 90-day replacement guarantee, clients retain full control as they scale.
Serving industries including professional services, training and education, finance, healthcare, IT, and entrepreneurial businesses, PeoplePartners embeds industry-aligned offshore talent directly into client teams. This approach helps reduce labor costs by up to 70% while improving productivity, engagement, and retention. Every solution is supported end-to-end, from recruitment and onboarding to IT, payroll, HR, and compliance, allowing leadership teams to focus on strategy, growth, and long-term performance.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship Opportunities
The 2026 Conference in Rotorua is a prime opportunity to cut through the noise and engage directly with our members and conference attendees, tapping into a network of over 25,000 equivalent full-time students.
Discussions opportunities with Warren Bassett warren@twzl.nz
Gold Sponsor SOLD
$8000 + GST
- Large (3m wide) exhibition stand
- Four complimentary registrations
- 75 sec turbo pitch opportunity (Five presentation slides)
- Logo and link on conference website & promotional communications as the Gold sponsor
- Branding on conference slides
- Provision for displaying own free-standing banners at one side of the main stage
- Large logo on conference lanyard inserts
- Logo and link to company website on printed conference programme and online schedule
- Verbal acknowledgement during conference.
Silver Sponsor
$6000 + GST
- Large (3m wide) exhibition stand
- Two complimentary registrations
- 75 sec turbo pitch opportunity (Five presentation slides)
- Logo and link on conference website & promotional communications as a Silver sponsor
- Branding on conference slides.
- Logo on conference lanyard inserts.
- Logo and link to company website on printed conference programme and online schedule.
- Verbal acknowledgement during conference.
Coffee Cart Sponsor
$5500 + GST
Become the “Hub” of the conference, further promoted as the meeting point for post presentation discussions.
- x400 served hot beverages for delegates
- Branded Coffee Cart signage
- Branded Coffee Cups x500
- Provision for displaying own free-standing banner
- One large (3m wide) exhibition stand
- 3m x 1.2m display space for 2 full conference days.
- Black velcro walls 2.3m tall, side panels will extend out 1.2m
- LED Track Spotlights – wall mounted.
- Power and free Wi-Fi access
- Refreshments: (morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea (for two onsite staff)
- 45 sec turbo pitch opportunity (Three presentation slides)
- Networking and Awards function attendance for two onsite staff).
Awards Sponsor
$900 + GST
- Includes:
- Logo on the award certificate
- Introduce/and present the award
- Recognition on ITENZ awards website.
- Presentation photography able to be used by the sponsor.
Partner with ITENZ to associate your business/brand with high achievers in the sector. We present awards in the following categories.
- Provider of the Year Award
- Outstanding Performance Award
- Tutor of the year Award
Awards are presented at the conclusion of Day One. All attendees are encouraged to attend and support the awards participants.
AWARDS
Independent Tertiary Education New Zealand Awards are held annually as part of the Conference.
The aims of the annual Independent Tertiary Education New Zealand (ITENZ) Excellence Awards are
to recognise, encourage and celebrate excellence in tertiary education in independent tertiary
organisations. They provide opportunities for organisations to showcase what they do best, what
stands out in a crowd, to share good practice and for students and staff members to further their
careers.
Award winners will be published and a media statement released shortly after the event.
Panelists announce award winners, reading from citations that are prepared by the panel prior to
the presentations.
Winners receive a framed award certificate and a cash prize.
Click the above link button for Awards criteria details
As Part of the Awards Application process you will need to complete the below forms/Documents. follow the links below
Supreme Award - presented by Instructure
The Supreme Award was inaugurated in 2017. This prestigious and significant award is sponsored by
Instructure.
One of the recipients of the above award will be chosen by the judging panel to receive the Supreme
Award. This award will be conferred for outstanding achievement and excellence.
Tutor of the Year Award
This award honours individual tutors who have demonstrated outstanding contemporary teaching practices which engage learners and recognise their efforts, nurture confidence, and promote effective learning that achieves and enhances outcomes.
Outstanding Performance Award - presented by Wisenet
This award honours and recognises the efforts of individual staff members who have demonstrated exceptional contribution to the development and improvement of the quality and culture of their organisation, its learners, staff and wider communities. This award is open to staff members except tutors, there being a specific award of Tutor of the Year Award.
Provider of the Year Award
This award honours organisations that have demonstrated excellence in organisational capability and significant strategic leadership that impact positively on the business, its learners, staff, wider community and the industry, and recognises its efforts.
Literacy & Numeracy Educator Award
This prestigious award honours the category award winner that has demonstrated exceptional contribution to the outcomes of learners, and recognises their efforts.
