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.