Steven Joyce
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment

Minister Joyce will open our Symposium and reflect on where the world is going with robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, and what he thinks this means for the NZ workforce in the future.  He may also have some messages/challenges for tertiary education providers.

Dr. Jason Dewling
Vice President of Academics and Research at Olds College 

Dr. Jason Dewling is a well-regarded educator with a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Alberta, but moreover, he is known as a highly energetic and visionary leader of people. Dr. Dewling has a very entrepreneurial and creative approach which is an ideal fit for the faculty and staff at Olds College, where he serves as VP Academic and Research. In recent years he has presented on leadership topics at several national conferences, served as a consultant, and co-written several articles. He was also nominated for a Manning Innovation award in 2014.

Olds College is known nationally for its approach to change and innovation. Recently, Olds has stepped forward with a bold new approach to engaging learners in a digital world. In addition to being the first fully integrated iPad learning environment in Canada, they have more bandwidth per student than any other post-secondary in Canada. Leveraging these two assets Olds College requires students to take a gamified entrepreneurship course on their iPads as a capstone course prior to graduation.

Jason is happily married to Heather Dewling for over 20 years and they share the joy of parenting their two daughters, Jenna (15) and Heidi (13). The Dewling family live in Olds, AB.

Geoff Scott
Emeritus Professor of Higher Education and 
Sustainability at the University of Western Sydney

Geoff Scott, Emeritus Professor of Higher Education and Sustainability at the University of Western Sydney is also the leader of the UN endorsed Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development – Greater Western Sydney.

Over the past thirty years Geoff has led or studied major change and leadership programs in schools, post-secondary and higher education within Australia and internationally, and has undertaken studies into graduate capabilities/employability skills.

He has undertaken research studies on university student engagement in productive learning and retention, education for sustainability, quality assurance and improvement, change management and leadership in education and has carried out commissioned reviews and capacity building projects on these areas.

Highly relevant to this symposium, Geoff has developed a Professional and Graduate Capability Framework for educators and employers which has been built on studies of successful early-career employees in nine professions, including engineering, over the past decade.