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....!