26 June 1996 Lincoln offers congenial campus for mature students

University students are getting older! Adult part-timers now make up the most rapidly growing group of university enrollees in New Zealand and by the year 2000 it is estimated that half of all those at university will be aged over 25.

At places like Lincoln University, 20 kilometres south of Christchurch and with a roll expected to top 4000 by the end of this year, the trend towards a more mature student population has been evident for some time.

Subtle acknowledgements such as a representative presence of "older" faces among the students depicted in the University's television advertisements are matched by more overt evidence such as a "mature students network" on campus offering support, encouragement and advice amid the often bewildering world of a return to tertiary study, or introduction to it, after some years away from formal education in the workforce or travelling overseas.

The "great OE" undertaken by so many young New Zealanders means several years can elapse before they turn to tertiary education, but Lincoln is well familiar with the pattern of students starting study in their 20's after time abroad.

"Overall the tendency is for these mature students to be more settled and focused on their work and this translates into their results which are generally good. In fact mature students tend to be achievers," says Peter Smith, the University’s Liaison Manager.

As the New Zealand export economy becomes a more specialised and sophisticated niche/boutique enterprise, many sectors are very short of technically skilled workers, and Lincoln's range of vocation-oriented degrees and diplomas can give give-seekers an advantage in the employment marketplace.

The University’s record of graduates winning jobs either by the time they graduate or very soon after stands up well with the other New Zealand universities. For example, sixty-one percent of last year's domestic student graduates at Lincoln were in employment by the end of May this year, with only 15 percent still seeking employment. The balance had either gone overseas or returned to university for further study.

Specialist degrees such as landscape architecture, tourism, transport, forestry, hotel & institutional management, property studies, parks, recreation and tourism, have an easily recognisable application to jobs and the academic and practical work programmes for many of these qualifications were devised in consultation with the relevant industry.

The most recent example of such industry involvement has been with Lincoln's B.Com. in Manufacturing and Technology Management, developed in consultation with the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association.

"Employment opportunities in the future are likely to be concentrated in areas requiring high levels of skill, knowledge and training," says Lincoln's Futures Analyst, Debbie Francis.

"Structural changes in the New Zealand economy over the past 10 years have seen significant job losses in construction, manufacturing and agriculture, while sectors experiencing an upturn now are finance and community/personal services.

"Employment areas predicted to 'take off ' from the year 2000 are resource law, environmental management, audit and non-toxicological control, food, security, distribution, service industries and 'soft-skill' management areas."

Liaison Manager Peter Smith says the message from this sort of analysis is clear –

"Be alert to trends and prepare for the future NOW either by re-training and seeking new qualifications if your present career is at a standstill or by getting that all-important first tertiary qualification if you haven't already been to university."

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