Otago Polytechnic is proud to be a leader in hands-on, career-focused education, achieving some of the best student achievement and satisfaction results in Australasia, and earning resounding endorsements from employers.

The numbers

Our results means you can feel confident you’ll gain a top quality qualification, have an amazing and enriching time, and put yourself in a great position for a career you love!

As educators, we are looking for innovative ways to deliver our programmes and assess people’s skills. With online tools and blended delivery options, time and distance are no barriers to gaining the education you need. We can even enable people to gain credits for knowledge they have gained in their careers.

We make a difference to the environment, community and the economy through our applied research and enterprise, and our commitment to sustainability. We are pleased to partner with industries and organisations throughout the community, using our expertise to find creative solutions and opportunities.

Our results

We’re proud that the quality of our programmes, and the work-readiness of our graduates, is recognised far and wide.

The New Zealand Government’s Tertiary Education Commission ranked us:

•  Top in New Zealand polytechnic sector for qualification completions (2011, 2012)
•  Top equal in New Zealand polytechnic sector for course completions (2012).

This means that students beginning a qualification at Otago Polytechnic are more likely to successfully complete it – and there are good reasons for this. Our surveys reveal student satisfaction ratings of 90 per cent and international student satisfaction ratings of 98 per cent (2011). In the 2012 Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE), which polled more than 25,000 students across 41 universities and polytechnics in Australasia, we led all benchmark groups in:

•  Active learning
•  Staff-student interactions
•  Enriching educational experiences
•  Supportive learning environments 
•  Work-integrated learning
•  Overall satisfaction
•  Overall average grade
•  Higher order thinking
•  General learning outcomes
•  General development outcomes.

Not only do our students have an incredible experience, they can feel confident in the quality of our education. NZQA’s External Evaluation and Review in 2011 gave us their highest possible rating: "highly confident" in our educational performance, and "highly confident" in our ability to assess our own performance. The AUSSE survey also showed that the qualities of an Otago Polytechnic degree are exceptional, far exceeding expectations.

Add this together, and it’s no wonder so many of our students carry on to fantastic careers. When we surveyed those who graduated at the end of 2011 less than a year later, 93 per cent were either employed or in further study. And out survey of employers showed that:

• 96 per cent of employers rated Otago Polytechnic graduates as moderately to very highly demonstrating the attributes they value
• 95 per cent of employers rated Otago Polytechnic graduates as the same or better than graduates from other tertiary education institutions.

See our report from the Tertiary Education Commission.