20 October 1998 University's school answers demand for wider educational opportunities

An expanding public demand for tertiary education and tertiary qualifications has been responded to by Lincoln University with a range of new ways of taking papers, doing courses and completing qualifications.

At the heart of it is the University's newly established Professional Studies School, set up with the specific task of meeting the educational, training and learning needs of individuals, businesses and organisations.

The school co-ordinates a range of opportunities covering Regional Education, Professional Development and a Regional Diploma Programme.

"The new avenues we have opened for tertiary study will be of particular value to those in businesses, industry or the professions who want to gain or upgrade qualifications while continuing on with their employment," says Lincoln's Director of Professional Studies, Professor Tony Zwart.

"What we now offer will also be of interest to employers and human resource managers who are seeking career enhancement opportunities for their staff."

Under the Regional Education Programme there are now opportunities for people to study Lincoln University subjects away from the campus while working fulltime. Distinguishing it from other distance education programmes are the community-based tutorial programmes which support the learning process.

Alongside the Regional Education Programme there is the school's Professional Development Programme which provides customised training and workshop courses for individuals and groups drawn from industry, businesses and organisations.

The school already offers a ‘Professional Masterate’ programme in Property Studies and is set to offer similar programmes in other industry areas, for example Hospitality and Tourism Management; Transport Management; Environmental Management; Computing Management; Agribusiness Management.

The introduction of the programme reflects the growing importance of part-time study for professionals in industry who want to enhance and broaden their training and the focus on particular specialisations distinguishes the Lincoln degrees from the more generalist MBA's offered by other institutions.

The Regional Diploma Programme will soon (1999) make the traditional diplomas in agriculture and horticulture available to a wider range of part-time students who wish to study in their own district. If because of job or family ties someone in the rural community cannot come to Lincoln for the qualification which would benefit them, then the Regional Diploma Programme gives Lincoln a mechanism for going to them.

The Director of Lincoln University's Professional Studies School, Professor Tony Zwart, may be contacted on (03) 3253624, fax (03) 3253863 or Email zwarta@lincoln.ac.nz

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand