NMIT weathers Covid storm
Food bags are being prepared for students, but not because the recipients are going hungry.
The parcels were due to be couriered to hospitality and catering students, to help them with the practical components of their courses at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT), chief executive Liam Sloan said.
‘‘They’ll be Skyping in, and doing their catering practicum from their own kitchen.’’
Most students would still be focusing on the theoretical elements of their courses, with NMIT’s 4400 learners having to remain away from campus, under alert level three.
Some NMIT students only officially started back this week, after the two-week Easter break ended as alert level three kicked in.
Before the holidays, students had one week of online programme delivery, with NMIT ‘‘closed from learning’’ for just over a week immediately after alert level four came into force, so tutors had time to prepare.
Some students who didn’t have online access were working through resource packs, but there had been ‘‘really high’’ engagement with online learning, Sloan said.
‘‘It’s allowed students to juggle family life and study at the same time. So they’ve got less competing priorities, so to speak.’’
Most of the more than 50 Chinese students who hadn’t been able to arrive from China to start their courses at NMIT at the beginning of term one were still learning online.
NMIT was encouraging students to review their circumstances once the lockdown was over, Sloan said.
‘‘We haven’t had any larger number [of cancellations] than we would have had, had we not been in lockdown.’’
There were 4400 learners enrolled at NMIT, a mix of fulltime, part-time, domestic and international.
Funding for 1427 domestic EFTS (effective fulltime students) at NMIT had been secured by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) for this year, meaning funding was protected even if the institute lost domestic EFTS, Sloan said.
But there was no change to the institute’s forecast of $1.3 to $1.5 million in lost fees, if international students couldn’t come.
‘‘We’re working on other scenarios at the minute with NZIST [New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology], to say, if we can’t get any international students coming in for the rest of the year, what might that financial impact be.
Sloan, whose resignation was announced on Friday, envisaged students would be allowed back on campus under alert level two, but was waiting for more information from the Government.