Last week we played host to Terry Marler and Jean Tilleyshort of Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. On Friday we asked our visitors to present a lunchtime forum for our staff and we were treated to a overview of Otago Polytechnic and the VET system in New Zealand, some cross-Tasman storytelling and a tour of saris in India, sorry, training for dairy farmers in India.
Otago Polytechnic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otago_Polytechnic) covers both urban and regional areas with an assortment of campuses in Dunedin, Central Otago and Oamaru. For more information, check out the Wikipedia entry complete with video interviews with staff from a recent open day. Dunedin, where the main campus is located, is a university town (University of Otago). In Cromwell, one of the Central Otago campuses there are 80 FTE students in areas such as tourism, viticulture and horticulture.

NZ Context

The NZ funding approach is ’student driven funding’ where if you can get a student to enrol, you will get funding for that place. However on the days that Terry and Jean were here, a proposal was put forward by the NZ government which will move towards an industry driven approach. The student driven model of course has influence on the way courses are developed, marketed and run. Competition between institutes is strong as income has been dependant on student enrolments. Student driven funding also means that enrolment patterns can be very volatile and reacts to trends and reports in the media and so on. Little collaboration on course or resource development takes place, and lots of duplication of effort results. There are practically no current national programs for developing staff capability or organisational development. Skills shortages have emerged as a result of high unemployment in recent times when many government operated utilities were sold off. New Zealand has a relatively low percentage of public sector employment vs population compared to countries such as Australia.

Delivery Profile

Classroom delivery accounts for up to 95% of their delivery, very little formal learning or assessment takes place in the workplace. Unemployment has dropped to 3% nationally, and full employment in the Otago region. Students are now more likely to commence work and then seek training to further their careers and Otago Polytechnic is still adjusting to this. Industry Training Organisations (http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/for-business/ito.do) define the type of training that will be delivered, who by and how it will be delivered, this may include delivery by either public or private training providers. Workplace assessors play a much more central role in the assessment of trainees and apprentices. Similar pressures exist for trainers and assessors operating in industry settings – lack of time, small business pressures and so on. When the option was first introduced, a lot of the ITOs moved to private training providers, and Otago Polytechnic is starting to see a return of previous clients. Workplace visits by trainers and assessors is seen as critical to the success of workplace training programs.

Local Environment

Dunedin is starting to emerge as a design centre for fashion, arts and design (http://www.dfi.co.nz/home/) . This has been supported by the City Council. Terry mentioned that because of the high employment rates, those people entering the design study area tend to be doing it for the passion, not marking time in a course. This in itself will create a challenge for Otago Polytechnic as the future market for training and education will be more people in fulltime work who are looking for training to support their career advancement. Fulltime, on-campus courses are unlikely to be attractive!!

Courses offered at Otago Polytechnic

Veterinary nursing – about 2/3 of all students in these courses nationwide, approx 250 students. This course is offered through a distance based model and includes workshops in regions close to students.

Science Technician training used to be offered through OT, however industry demand shifted from a vocational qualification to a degree qualification. Terry and Jean explained that this was a case where OT did not respond quickly enough and training in this area is now delivered by the local university.

Many of the undergraduate degrees are highly applied eg nursing, midwifery, product design and interior design. Masters degrees are starting to be become more popular with university graduates who are looking for courses with a strong applied focus.

A very popular area is eco-tourism related courses. People undertake these courses both for career outcomes and for enjoyment.

Student fees do not have to be paid upfront, loans like HECS are available. Courses are around $4,500 NZ for one year.

India

Terry visited India recently – he treated us to a tale of his travels, which can also be found here on his travel blog: http://travelswithterry.blogspot.com/ I won’t repeat it here, but rather direct you to his site to enjoy Terry’s own words and fabulous photos.