dispatch from Wellington

This morning I gave a seminar to the Victoria University of Wellington's University Staff Development Centre. It attracted about 20 people from inside and out the University, including a couple from Learning State, which I suppose could be described as an NZ Sector Skills Council for the public sector and some strategy people from NZ's Open Polytechnic, which I wish I'd known more about before I came.
It was a little strange talking about Lifelong Learning Networks and Foundation degrees in such a forum and I had to do a little bit of translation of terms inititally so that it didn't sound like gobbledy-gook. But while the contexts and the starting points and some of the structures are different here, the themes people are working with are common: eg: widening access, work-based learning etc.
I'm being hosted here by Jenny Barclay, Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning at VUW. Having had experience of the UK FE sector in the 1990s, Jenny has been very helpful in being able to draw comparisons and highlight differences for me between the UK/NZ. One of the key differences is funding - NZ institutions are trying to work along similar lines as some UK institutions, without the funding (eg: for widening participation, employer engagement etc). There was a feeling in the seminar that NZ universities see their role as preparing people for an academic career and there is therefore little inclination to engage with skills/occupational agencies to work out where collaboration could be most beneficial. Jenny herself seems to be pretty progressive however so it will be interesting to see how her department fares and adapts in the contexts of 'managed enrolment' (otherwise known as 'cuts').
No time to write more at this point, Wellington harbour and an ice-cream are beckoning....!

the sea, the sea

Off today to Tauranga, a city of 110,000 located in the Bay of Plenty on the North Island's East Coast. Like Swindon, Tauranga is a growing conurbation, without a university. Unlike Swindon, Tauranga has an enviable location on the coast and is popular with domestic holidaymakers and retired people!
The reason Brian took me to Tauranga was firstly to meet with staff at the satellite branch of Waikato in Tauranga, offering continuing education short courses. They were in some upheaval as the building is being renovated and their offices have been recently relocated. The usual pressures to meet FTE and income targets apply but both Nyree and Karen are clearly dedicated adult educators and are continuing to be creative in a difficult environment. The retired population of Tauranga supplies an enthusiastic audience for their programmes and their public lecture series can easily attract 100 or more attendees.
In the afternoon we drove out beyond the town to the impressive Bay of Plenty Polytechnic campus to meet Alan Neilson. Alan is a senior member of Waikato University staff who has masterminded a successful partnership with the Polytechnic to deliver bridging, pathway and full degree programmes in Tauranga. Unlike the proliferation of HE/FE partnerships in the UK, this type of partnership is groundbreaking in NZ, where Polytechnics have degree awarding powers and the norm is for Universities and Polytechnics to ignore or compete with one another. The initial aim of the partnership, in consultation with Tauranga city council, was to stem the flow of school leavers away from Tauranga in search of tertiary study opportunities, work or their OE (overseas experience) and to address the low-skilled nature of much employment in Tauranga in the service and care industries. In practice, the programmes have pulled in mature students - although the mature cohorts are getting younger year by year. Alan is on the point of retirement but has a very positive story to tell about the Waikato University/Bay of Plenty Polytech partnership including integrated IT and telephone systems, learning support and library functions, a collaborative and responsive approach to programme development and growing student numbers.
This is my last day in Hamilton - I'm taking the train tomorrow to Wellington - a full day's journey - where I will end my week at Victoria University. More soon.

making comparisons

Meetings today with the Director of Student Learning Support at Waikato University (Dr Marcia Johnson) and with Teresa Fernandez and some of her team who deliver the bridging programmes within the Waikato Pathways College. Concerns around academic literacy came up in the first meeting as well as Marcia's development of thesis writing circles for doctorate students. In the absence of a Graduate School, doctoral students can feel isolated among individual departments and have welcomed the workshops and social networking Marcia's pilot programmes have provided.

In the second meeting I learned more about the place of bridging programmes in NZ higher education - these are very much seen as providing a step up for 'weak' students into the degrees they aspire to - possibly similar to UWE's Foundation Years but much shorter (around 12 weeks). The focus is very much on qualifying the students for entry into Waikato degrees, although the qualification they receive is nationally transferable. In comparison, today's meeting made me more appreciative of the robustness and recognition of the Access to HE Diploma and of its relevance to a range of potential applicants to HE. The bridging team expressed an interest in tracking their students' success or otherwise once they begin their degrees - this tends to be done informally at the moment. Some of the tutors talked about having to deal with behavioural issues arising from students who have 'failed' in their final year at school, coming straight into a university setting and facing the pressure to succeed in a relatively short time. They also talked about the positive relationships these students can build with the bridging tutors, which they then miss once they move into their degree departments - this reminded me of the experience of Fd students being taught in smaller groups and building a strong link with their tutors.

In all my meetings so far, I've been searching to identify equivalent practice or comparisons between the UK and NZ but I realised today that in some cases, there simply are none to identify. The NZ system has, to date, prided itself on providing a university education for anyone who wants it (hence the free or special admission policy for those over 20) - this is vastly different from the UK's selective system. NZ universities have historically not been in competition for students. Not only is the population too small (4.3 million) and the universities too few in number, until fairly recently universities were obliged to take a proportion of their intake from within their catchment area. This obligation has now been removed and it now as common for students to travel away to university than to study locally.

feast the eyes

Here's the eyebreak I promised. Some photos from the Marlborough Sounds (at the northern tip of the South Island).

routes into higher education - bridging, pathways, free entry

The temperature soared to 27 degrees today, making meetings and travelling about by car very sticky! Luckily the Waikato campus is leafy with plenty of shade and well supplied with cafes (see the photo - UWE's Core 24 should take note!). Like many UK universities, the construction of new student hubs and building extensions is in progress on campus, although with the current cuts in NZ higher education biting just as deeply as in the UK, these are not uncontroversial.

A very quick summary of the NZ higher education context: there are 8 NZ universities, 15 Institutes of Technology (similar to our old Polytechnics) and a large number of Polytechs (similar to the UK FE College). In order to enter University young people must acquire a University Entrance (UE) qualification and/or Level 3 certificate. Waikato is one of the smaller NZ universities with 10,000 students.

My day began with an 'orientation' meeting with Professor Brian Findsen, Director of Waikato Pathways College. Brian is a Hamilton native, who has worked at Waikato, then in Auckland and in Glasgow and returned to Hamilton a couple of years ago to take up this post. The Pathways Colleges is a research-led academic unit of Waikato University, recently incorporated into the Faculty of Education. Its portfolio combines adult/continuing/community education programmes, international student language support prior to enrolment in Waikato degrees, bridging and 'pathway' programmes (which seem to be an integral part of NZ university provision) and student learning support. Among the bridging and pathway provision are specific progammes for Maori students (Te Timatanga Hou) and among the adult/community programmes are two for older people, one based within the Maori community, the other with Pakeha (Sixty Plus). Recent cuts and caps on student numbers have brought significant reduction in the main bridging programme - Certificate of University Preparation.

A quick skim through the continuing education prospectus reveals a range and number of non-credit bearing short courses including languages, professional development, arts and sciences, that would make many a UK adult educator weep with nostalgia! This form of continuing education seems still to play a valued role in NZ university provision, although vicious cuts are being implemented nationally even as I type and the funding emphasis is being placed on developing literacy and numeracy instead. Sound familiar?!!

One factor which has an obvious impact on the formulation and development of 'widening participation' (not a term generally used here) policy and practice - is the free entry policy - anyone over the age of 20, legally resident in NZ or Australia may enter higher education without any evidence of academic qualifications. This policy is held dear by some I have talked to but regarded as a threat to standards of university education by others. It is currently under threat because of the recently introduced caps on student numbers. The policy inevitably shapes the NZ approach to 'widening access' to higher education. From what I have understood so far, efforts in this area are directed primarily to Maori and Pasifica communities and with good reason as these are under-represented in higher education - in 2007 66% of Asian and 44% of European/Pakeha school leavers achieved a University Entrance qualification or Level 3 certificate, compared with 20% of Pacific and 18% of Maori students.

Small scale interventions were discussed in an unexpected visit today to the Waikato Migrant Centre where I met a range of people involved in running community development and education projects in the city. One was Fatima who has gained funding for a year-long 'Stepping Up To Study' project to support young Somali refugees and migrants in higher education. This project involved mentoring and tutoring young people who were struggling to complete their degree courses. I hope to keep in touch with Fatima to find out how her project succeeds.

Roll up, roll up! For one week and one week only I'm entering the blogosphere to record my experiences at New Zealand's Waikato Pathways College (part of Waikato University) in Hamilton and at Victoria University, Wellington (VUW). After over a month of travelling and relaxing (and being bitten by sandflies) in both the North and South Islands it's time to switch back into work mode!

I'm being hosted for three days by Professor Brian Findsen, Director of Waikato Pathways College, and will be meeting with Jenny Barclay, Director, Continuing Education and Executive Development at VUW, then giving a seminar at VUW's Staff Development Centre on Friday.

Along the way, my hope is that as well as observing the policies and practice of progression and lifelong learning in these two institutions, I will also be able to reflect on the UK context and elements of my own work at UWE and with the Western Vocational Lifelong Learning Network.

So here we go - starting off in Hamilton in the early morning on Monday 25 January (a temperature of 25 degrees is promised today) - I'm meeting Brian at 9.30 in his office at the University. Hamilton has been variously described as the city of the future and the armpit of NZ....! The latter seems unkind - although the city has a vast and ugly light industrial/commercial belt on its outskirts, the city centre is low-rise and spacious and graced by the wide and fast flowing Waikato River at its heart.

I'll find out more about Hamilton's population, the work of the Pathways College and also the current cuts and pressures in higher education spending in NZ later today.