2 August 1999 Lincoln – University of Options

It’s a modern truism in education as much as business – the future belongs to the responsive and adaptive, those who meet needs and provide what's wanted. It's a creed which has characterised Lincoln University's operation in many ways over recent years, giving those who want university qualifications a whole range of options for achieving their goals.

From a ‘school of agriculture’ opening its doors in 1880 to a roll of 16, Lincoln has grown to a full university of over 4000 students offering educational opportunities not only on its Canterbury campus just outside of Christchurch, but in ways and places throughout New Zealand and up into South East Asia.

It's a university which saw an opportunity to offer a New Zealand degree off­shore and grabbed it – becoming the first New Zealand university to do so. That was in Malaysia, starting in 1994, and the Malaysian linkage has contributed strongly to Lincoln being the most ‘internationalised’ of all New Zealand's universities. Today over 23 percent of its students are from abroad, with more than 50 countries represented on the roll.

Domestically the University's Regional Education and Regional Diploma programmes have also demonstrated its willingness to explore new ways of doing things. Both these programmes provide the opportunity for New Zealanders in their home districts to embark on Lincoln studies without having to leave home. Dr Lynette Hardie-Wills and Dr Warwick Scott are the respective contacts if you would like to explore what these two opportunities are all about.

Then there's Summer School – introduced by Lincoln University last year. An opportunity to put the summer vacation period to use in tertiary study, catching up on papers missed or embarking on new papers. Compressed learning, with full university papers offered over a choice of two periods, November-December or January-February. Dr Jeff Heyl is the Summer School Director and contact. It was a popular option highly successful in its first run and set to make an impact again at the end of this year and in January-February 2000.

Although Lincoln had its origins as a specialist institution for agricultural education, it is now more broadly based and covers the whole field of natural resources in terms of production, management, human involvement and sustainability. Its areas of teaching and research are defined in its Charter as – commerce and management; primary production and natural resources; science and engineering; social science.

Commerce and Commerce and Management degrees predominate at capping these days. Within Lincoln's Bachelor of Commerce degrees, students have a wide range of options in which to ‘major’. These cover Food Industry, Forestry, Tourism, Manufacturing and Technology Management, Hotel and Institutional Management, Transport, Agriculture, Horticulture and Valuation and Property Management.

Within the Bachelor of Commerce and Management programme the ‘majors’ available are Accounting, Business Management, Computing, Economics, Finance, Marketing and Property Studies.

Along with Commerce qualifications, Lincoln's portfolio of degrees and diplomas includes Science (with a range of B.Sc. streams including Computing and Mathematical Sciences; Animal Science; Food Science; Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology; Atmosphere, Weather and Climate; Land, Soil and Water; and Conservation and Ecology); Agricultural Science; Horticultural Science; Resource Studies; Viticulture and Oenology; Landscape Architecture; Recreation Management; Maori Studies; Social Science; Engineering (Natural Resources); Applied Computing; and Applied Science. Most are offered at all levels – bachelors, honours, masters and doctoral.

Diplomas cover Farm Management and Horticultural Management plus a range of Postgraduate Diplomas in specialist areas.

The University's academic structure comprises six ‘divisions’ servicing three ‘schools’. The three schools are Undergraduate; Postgraduate and Research; and Professional Studies, and the six divisions are Animal and Food Sciences; Applied Management and Computing; Commerce; Environmental Management and Design; Soil, Plant and Ecological Sciences; and Human Sciences.

Approximately one-third of the University's New Zealand students come from the North Island, one-third from Christchurch and one-third from other parts of the South Island.

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