Aoraki Polytechnic is planning to shut courses across the South Island, affecting hundreds of students in Ashburton, Timaru and Oamaru, Christchurch and Dunedin. But TEU organiser Kris Smith says the decision is inappropriate and will disadvantage hundreds of local community learners.

In Ashburton the closures will affect 84 students and two staff. Among them is young 19-year-old Samantha Quinton who is organising a protest and has a petition circulating to save the Life Skills course she is taking at Ashburton’s branch of the polytechnic.

The Ashburton Guardian reports that Aoraki is planning to discontinue some courses to fit the Government’s tertiary education policy, but wants to protect the course she is doing for future students.

“Before I did Life Skills, I did not know how to do a CV or a job interview. The Life Skills tutors teach you all that, those basic skills you need in everyday life, and they have bent over backwards to help,” said Ms Quinton.

In Timaru 182 students and three staff will be affected, and in Oamaru 102 students and two staff will see courses closed. In all three towns the courses the polytechnic wishes to close are computing and life skills programmes.

In Christchurch 76 students and five staff will be affected when courses in TV and radio and the Diploma in Sport and Fitness are both closed.

In Dunedin 109 students and seven staff will be affected when web design, advertising design, creative writing, 3D animation, film, TV and radio courses are all closed.

The polytechnic has said it is ‘rationalising’ its courses on offer said Ms Smith.

“But it does not seem rational when the threatened courses are not offered by other providers in their local communities,” said Ms Smith.

“For instance, the life skills programme in Oamaru is very popular and incredibly important to the community. Most of the students are young women who will now lose access to an important local learning opportunity.”

“The computing courses are important for people of many ages and backgrounds and in Oamaru and Ashburton no-one else is offering the courses that successfully target second chance learners in this way – 1 to 1 delivery in combination with self-paced learning.”