Why us

We have very high levels of student satisfaction. We also have the support systems and processes that will help you reach your goals through study with us.

Our job is to improve educational access and choice – something we do for more than 34,000 students in New Zealand and over 40 other countries.

We have been recognised internationally for our work:

  • In 2004, we won the Commonwealth’s top award for institutional excellence in distance education from the Commonwealth of Learning.
  • In 2007, we won a US$100,000 Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration, which recognises work done by not-for-profit organisations globally in the field of open source software development and collaboration.
  • In 2008, we won a Learning Impact Award from the IMS Global Learning Consortium for the New Zealand Open Source Virtual Learning Environment (NZOSVLE) project, which we led.

Through its strengths in flexible learning, Open Polytechnic plays a unique role in New Zealand’s tertiary education system providing:

  • A national centre of expertise in open and distance learning
  • Flexible access for people who seek or need an alternative to face-to-face study
  • Upskilling for people in or near their work
  • Standardised national resources and qualifications for business and industry
  • One of New Zealand’s leading centres for educational resource and content development.

We aim to deliver our flexible services in increasingly customised ways to meet the needs of different learner, business, industry and community groups. This includes working in collaborative arrangements to increase responsiveness and cost-efficiency.

Qualifications to advance or change your career

With Open Polytechnic, you can study and work at the same time. Many of our courses are vocational – you can use the work you do to meet some of the course requirements, and your on-job learning is supplemented with your course materials and guided study.

Studying with Open Polytechnic is a great way to boost your career prospects or prepare for a change. We offer career-specific qualifications as well as qualifications that focus on generic professional skills – and you can keep earning as you study.

Employers understand that studying part-time while managing work and personal commitments shows determination, adaptability, motivation and a high level of organisational and problem-solving skills – qualities they value highly.