Boost for apprentice scheme

Another 42 places could be available for southern apprentices next year, provided employers feel confident about taking them on.

Otago Polytechnic, which supervises apprentices in trades such as plumbing, building and mechanical engineering through the modern apprenticeship scheme, had received an unexpected funding boost for next year, chief operating officer Philip Cullen said.

The extra funding would enable staff to supervise 250 apprentices, up from 210 this year.

It had come because of a performance bonus for providers achieving good results, he told a polytechnic council meeting on Friday.

"We thought performance-based funding wasn't coming in until 2012, so this was a bit of a surprise."

Based on retention and completion rates for the apprentices it had supervised between January last year and June this year, Otago Polytechnic was in the top quartile for providers throughout the country, he said.

Marketing, communications and customer relations general manager Mike Waddell said the polytechnic supervised apprentices from Timaru to Balclutha and all over Otago and Central Otago.

Staff would begin talking to employers immediately to see if the extra places could be filled.

That would be "a challenge", he said, and would depend on whether employers felt the economy had recovered to the point where they were confident about employing apprentices.

Performance-based funding for the rest of the polytechnic's operations will start from 2012.

Chief executive Phil Ker told the meeting he was confident Otago's results were such that it would lose no money, or so little it would be "chicken feed".

Otago's results were worst for students studying for certificates at levels one and two, but staff had "worked hard" to improve retention and completion rates this year.

allison.rudd@odt.co.nz