Orientation events at Otago Polytechnic got under way
yesterday with a welcome and barbecue lunch held to greet
hundreds of new and returning students at the campus.
A new foundation programme launched as part of an Otago
Polytechnic Maori trades training initiative will help
counter New Zealand's significant skills shortage,
polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker says.
Otago Polytechnic wants to build on the industry success and
acclaim it garnered last year as part of a bid to become a
"great" tertiary institution, its chief executive has told
staff.
Otago Polytechnic will receive a funding increase of more
than $1 million as a result of a Tertiary Education
Commission decision to raise the institution's number of
students.
Maori academic Dr Khyla
Russell has been appointed as a full professor at Otago
Polytechnic - only the second person to hold the title at the
institution.
Initiatives to boost Maori student achievement levels at
Otago Polytechnic are improving, although course and
qualification completion rates remain "significantly lower"
than that of other learners, a New Zealand Qualifications
Authority report says.
The closure of a Student Job Search branch office in Dunedin
appears to have had little effect on the ability of the
organisation to place students in paid work, after employment
figures for November were released by the Otago University
Students' Association yesterday.
When it comes to avalanche specialists and mountain
guides in New Zealand, the majority have studied under
world-renowned and award-winning snowsports instructor Pete
Bilous - or someone he trained.
