College Annual Report highlights successes

College Annual Report highlights successes

The success of the Wellington College of Education's strategic alliance with Victoria University was highlighted in its 2003 Annual Report released today.

College principal Dugald Scott said the conjoint teacher programme jointly taught with the University had been very successful.

"This superior teacher education programme allows students to combine a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce & Administration or a Bachelor of Science with the specialist teaching qualification of a Bachelor of Teaching. Graduates have the ability to teach both primary and secondary age students and they gain the extra confidence of two years' classroom teaching experience."

Mr Scott said the College and University aimed to enrol 150 students in this new programme in 2003, the first year the qualification was offered.

"The demand, however, was much higher and 170 students enrolled. Based on the initial success of this programme, the College and University have developed a BA/BTeach programme that focuses specifically on the needs of the early childhood education sector."

Under the strategic alliance, the Victoria provides, under several service level agreements, a variety of services including library, facilities management, student recruitment, student services, marketing, human resources and public affairs.

Mr Scott said online distance programmes for graduates continued to grow in popularity and allowed people to study to be primary or secondary teachers without leaving their own communities. To ensure this programme was delivered as efficiently as possible, the Council recommended a $1.4 million upgrade of the College's IT systems be implemented.

Mr Scott said the College experienced growth in the number of domestic students across a variety of new programmes and delivery methods.

Equivalent Fulltime Student (EFTS) numbers rose by 5.8 percent to 1,269.9 compared with the previous year. Fifteen percent of all students enrolled identified as Mâori, which was higher than 12 percent target for the year.

The College achieved a surplus of $107,000 for the year to December 31, which was lower than the year before. Total revenue increased 6.8 percent to $19.6 million compared to the year before.

Mr Scott said the lower surplus reflected the low level of its fees compared with other teacher education providers and the need to offer competitive salaries to recruit and retain the College's top quality staff.

"The College was one of few tertiary education providers that the Ministry of Education granted permission to increase its fees by more than the 5 percent fees maxima set by the Government. Whilst the College's fees will increase by 10 percent in 2004, they still remain relatively low compared to many other providers."

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