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Vocational New Zealand
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With growing recognition and a range of sectors covered, vocational education in New Zealand is on the up, discovers Matthew Knott.
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There are more and more students/parents starting to become open-minded towards private teaching establishments,” enthuses Patrick Yeung at Design and Arts College of New Zealand (D&A), Christchurch. “Our vocational courses place an emphasis on real-world scenarios and an industry based approach in their education and training.” In some vocations, New Zealand’s expertise is leading to increasing enrolments, argues Craig Musson at National Trade Academy (NTA), Christchurch, “This interest has come from other countries realising that New Zealand is a leader, in our case, in agricultural technology and farm management systems.”
Trends within the vocational sector vary between different areas of study. Yeung finds that all of their offerings – including Fine Arts, Contemporary Photography, Interior Design, Architectural Design, Fashion Design and Make Up Design – are popular with international students, and that their top source countries are Thailand, India and China, where D&A has strengthened relationships and has a “good reputation”. A new preparation course that helps transition students into these disciplines has also been added, he says.
For NTA’s agricultural programmes, South America is a key source of students. “Chile is our main market followed by Uruguay as both have pastoral-based farming and look to New Zealand for our use of technology to maximise production,” explains Musson. Horticultural courses are also popular and, he adds, “We continually check the market and work with NZTE [New Zealand Trade and Enterprise] and MFAT [Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] to identify new opportunities.”
Le Cordon Bleu is establishing a new school in central Wellington in 2012, and as Guy Pascoe, Director International Business, attests, “The rise of the celebrity chef, the increasing popularity of food TV, and the growing interest in food sustainability and food safety have meant an increasing interest in cuisine.” Pascoe envisages China and South Korea being large markets, but states, “We want Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand to be recognised as a truly international school.”
Avonmore Tertiary Institute, Christchurch, has more of a varied portfolio, of which their National Diploma in Hospitality & Business Management is the most popular for international students. General Manager, Michael Hadley, notes, “The majority of our students are coming from either China or India. Due to the immigration changes in both the UK and Australia, New Zealand is getting more students from India. They think it is cheaper and safer to study here.” In response to demands from this market, Avonmore has increased its range of one-year diplomas, especially in Business, Computing and Tourism, and students have the option of continuing to a higher level or crossing credits to another qualification and getting a double diploma, Hadley says.
Recent changes to immigration policy have strengthened visa requirements and the level of maintenance funds that students need to prove they can access (see STM, August 2011, page 19), but as Yeung points out, “This also ensures New Zealand is getting genuine and quality students.” Hadley expresses some reservations about new stipulations that students wishing to apply for a graduate job search visa must have studied in New Zealand for at least two years. NTA, however, are enthusiastic about a pilot Study to Work visa for vocational training they have been working on with Immigration New Zealand (INZ). As Musson explains, “At the moment for under Diploma level you can either work or study but cannot do both.” |
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