Enrolment numbers fall short
Primary industry enrolments at South Canterbury’s tertiary organisation will struggle to reach half of their target for the year.
Enrolment figures released by Ara Institute of Canterbury show the organisation is unlikely to meet its overall enrolment target for 2016.
However, chief executive Kay Giles says the polytechnic is expected to boost its student numbers heading into the next academic year.
As of September 28, Ara had 7520 equivalent full time students (EFTS) enrolled. Its budget for the year was 8038.
While some subject areas, such as hospitality and the humanities, had already exceeded their annual target, other subject areas were unlikely to reach it.
The subject with the biggest deficit was primary industries, one of the flagship subject areas for South Canterbury.
A budget of 231 students was forecast for 2016.
It had managed to reach less than half of that, with 100 EFTS enrolled. Giles acknowledged there had been a ‘‘pretty clear misestimate’’ of the demand for the primary industry courses.
There was work going on to assess the needs of the sector, she said.
‘‘We’ve had a couple of external consultants looking at the opportunities there.
‘‘We’ve definitely ideas.’’
No definite plans had made yet, she said.
The Government had put out Level 3 and Level 4 primary industry courses for tender, and Ara had submitted an application for those, she said.
The polytechnic’s primary industry programmes have often been touted as one of its biggest drawcards, and focuses, in South Canterbury.
In the business case to merge the now-defunct Aoraki Polytechnic and CPIT, it was proposed that a primary industries Centre of Excellence would be established in Timaru, with satellite educational facilities in Ashburton, Oamaru, and North Canterbury.
Earlier in the year, Ara chairwoman Jenn Bestwick said that Centre of Excellence was still going ahead, but a business case was being developed to establish exactly what the needs were in the got some been primary industry sector.
When it came to overall enrolments, Giles did not believe Ara would reach its target.
‘‘We’ll probably miss that by a little bit,’’ she said.
However, she was cerned.
‘‘Last year, with Aoraki Polytechnic and CPIT combined, we delivered a little bit less than 7600,’’ she said. ‘‘Clearly we’ll exceed that.’’
This year was the first year for the organisation, which was formed when Aoraki and CPIT merged on January 1.
It had been a ‘‘baseline year’’ in terms of predicting student enrolments, Giles said.
While the enrolment figures were not expected to rise dramatically, there would still be some growth before the end of the year with October intakes, she said.
She also predicted 2017 to bring further growth for the polytechnic. New business and computer courses were being offered in Timaru, as well as a level 4 chef training course.
Ara was awaiting approval from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) to offer a Bachelor of International Tourism and Hotel Management.
If approved, the course would be based in Christchurch. However, once established, individual papers could be offered in Timaru. not con-