Farming and building boost Otago Polytechnic

Otago Polytechnic. Photo / ODT files

A rush to primary sector and construction industry training has spurred a 49 per cent increase in domestic enrolments at Otago Polytechnic, as Covid-19-related job losses and Government recovery funding buoys technology institutes and polytechnics nationwide.

In Dunedin, the increased domestic demand has helped Otago Polytechnic erase a $13 million hole that falling international student numbers had put in its budget, chief executive Dr Megan Gibbons said.

The tertiary education institution was well above its enrolment target for 2021, Gibbons said, and the polytechnic now expected to break even based on 2021 enrolment projections after a $1.6 million surplus in 2019.

Gibbons said demand from domestic students would fill most programme areas at the polytechnic next year, but the July introduction of the Government's $320 million Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) pushed the polytechnic's enrolments up significantly.

Domestic applications were at 3601, Gibbons said, up 1180 compared to 2421 at the corresponding time last year.

Slightly more than 700 students had accepted offers of study.

However, international applications were down by 390 from this time in 2019 to 888, from 1278 last year, and because many applicants could not enter the country, Gibbons said the institution was forecasting a bigger drop.

It expected 391 international students next year, the majority of whom were already in the country.