Puzzle of vanishing points

By ADAM GIFFORD

Here is a maths problem. This is a test, by the way - give the right answer and you might get a job.

A student completes an IT-related course from a training provider licensed by the Government, covering material set out to an official government standard. The provider gives her a diploma saying she has achieved 120 points at level five of the national standard.

The student then decides to study some more, and approaches a polytechnic to enrol in a level six course.

OK, says the polytechnic, we will cross-credit you 20 points towards our level five qualification, but you have to do the rest of the course before you can go up to the next level.

So where did the 100 points go?

According to New Zealand Qualifications Authority spokesman Bill Lennox, they are still there.

"If these kids have finished a national diploma at level five, they have reached what the industry considers level five," Lennox says.

He says the NZQA quality assurance programme is designed to ensure there is the same quality for public and private sector education, and it has a new website, www.kiwiquals.govt.nz, so people can compare courses.

But Alison Young from Unitec's computing school says the industry doesn't rate the diplomas from many private training establishments, which is why students are knocking on the doors of polytechnics trying to salvage something out of their expensive education.

"It concerns me these students are getting a qualification they can't easily get a job with and they can't easily cross-credit into another qualification," Young says.

The problem has been highlighted as polytechnics pick up students stranded by the collapse of training companies such as Carich and Modern Age.

Most polytechnics and technical institutes use standards set by the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ), a body established in 1988 after an exhaustive review of IT training.

Private training providers, if they want accreditation from NZQA, put together courses from a smorgasbord of NZQA-approved unit standards. The NZQA accreditation qualifies for student loans.

Young says the fact the national qualifications framework does not equate with polytechnic standards should cause concern.

"When we take students from other courses, they often have no problem-solving ability, no underlying theory or context."

NACCQ chairman Garry Roberton, a lecturer at Waikato Institute of Technology, says because they can't use the NACCQ standards, many private providers cobble together unit standards which can be matched to international qualifications such as the A Plus basic hardware and Network Plus certificates.

"So that sort of training is fairly narrow, it concentrates on technical unit standards," Roberton says.

"The NACCQ diplomas in information and communications technology levels five and six cover a much broader range of subjects including business communications and interpersonal skills, which is what employers want. They want staff to be able to work in teams and to interface with customers."

He says most polytechnic programmes have advisory committees with industry representatives, to ensure graduates meet the needs of the region's employers.

Polytechnics see private providers as having a legitimate role, particularly for vendor education, but better co-ordination is needed between public and private sectors.

Laurie Bisman, the head of computing at ATC College in Christchurch, is industry representative on NACCQ.

He says private providers are coming under more scrutiny from authorities because of the failures, and a change of mood in government circles.

"Some of them are having to rewrite charters. There is also a funding issue, in that Efts (equivalent full-time student) funding is different for private establishments than public ones," Bisman says.

"The good PTEs (private training establishments) will survive, the bad ones and the ones who break the rules won't."

Bisman says many students want a skills-based qualification without some of the extras polytechs provide, so going private suits them.