UCOL BLOG

This year’s key professional event for tertiary education teachers will be held at UCOL in Palmerston North this week.

The national Teaching and Learning Conference is sponsored by Ako Aotearoa, the National Centre for Teaching Excellence. It will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a powhiri to welcome conference delegates and will be opened officially by the Minister of Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce, at 11.30 a.m. on Wednesday 29 September.

UCOL’s Chief Executive Paul McElroy and Council Chair Trevor Goodwin will also speak.

This  is the fourth national Teaching and Learning conference.  It is being held at UCOL for the second year running.

Conference coordinator Janet Walke says this year’s theme – The Learning Journey: Who’s in the Driver’s Seat? – reflects the importance of the role of teachers in the success of tertiary students but also opens up the debate on the place of teachers in the students’ learning journey.

Janet says more than 100 people have enrolled for the conference. Participants will include a wide range of tertiary teachers, most from institutes of technology and polytechnics but also from universities. Some representatives on Industry Training Organisations will also attend.

Read More: “Minister to open National Teaching and Learning conference”…

UCOL and Massey in association with Vision Manawatu and Manawatu Chamber of Commerce  would like to invite you to the final Business Breakfast Seminar for 2010.

Introducing Brian Meredith, Chief Executive, The Marketing Bureau Ltd, Auckland

What Is Marketing Anyway?
Ask 10 people to define “Marketing” and you will get 10 different answers. More worrying is that if those 10 people are all Marketing Practitioners you will still get 10 different answers! With a little humour and more than a touch of controversial and irreverent content, Brian will share his perspective on the answer to this fundamental business and organizational question whilst providing some down to earth tips on how to understand and get the best from what is probably the most vital concept in business and organisational life.

When: Tuesday 5 October, 7.30am-9.00am
Where: The Coachman Hotel, Fitzherbert Avenue, Palmerston North
Cost: $20.00 – Free for UCOL/Massey Staff and Students
RSVP: Samantha Polatsek— s.polatsek@ucol.ac.nz

 Places for this event are limited so please RSVP by Friday 1st October

UCOL has again confirmed its position as the place to study photography in New Zealand.

UCOL was named Tertiary Institute of the Year for 2010 at the Epson/New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP) Iris national Professional Photography Awards last night. It is the sixth year running that UCOL in Palmerston North has won the top award.

The awards provided further proof of the excellence of UCOL’s School of Photography, Art and Design, with a run of wins by its students.

Third year student Anna Kernohan won the Student/Assistant category, over competitors from throughout New Zealand studying at polytechnics, universities and new entries to the photographic industry. Anna is studying towards a Bachelor of Applied Visual Imaging at UCOL.

In the Student/Assistant category, UCOL students also took a total of 76 awards, including three Gold awards, nine Silver with distinction and 30 Bronze awards.

Commenting on UCOL’s success at this year’s awards, Head Judge Mike Langford said UCOL had secured its reputation once more as the place to learn photography, after being named Tertiary Institute of the Year for the sixth time in six years, and with a UCOL student winning the Student/Assistant category.

The Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards are the only competition of its kind in New Zealand. This year they were held at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP) annual Infocus conference in Queenstown.

Read More: “More photography accolades for UCOL”…

Fifteen aspiring baking students are benefiting from a freshly risen partnership between UCOL Wairarapa and Masterton baking identity Breadcraft (Wai) Ltd.

Once a week, the Certificate in Baking and Pastry students are joined in the UCOL kitchens by Breadcraft bakers Todd Wilton and Motu Sturgeon.

Todd and Motu are recently qualified bakers who did their adult apprenticeships with Breadcraft. They are enjoying their foray into teaching on alternate Thursdays. “I produce more than 10,000 baked products at work in a normal day,” says Motu. “It is quite different to come here and focus on just a few baked goods at a time. The teaching part is a challenge but the students have a great attitude and are keen to learn.”

Todd agrees and says it is a new experience to have the students watching his every move during demonstrations.

Read More: “Breadcraft rises to UCOL challenge”…

New work by senior Fine Arts lecturer Marty Vreede will be on show at the Solander Gallery in Wellington from next Wednesday.

Marty is exhibiting with Wellington based multi-media visual artist Sheyne Tuffery.

The Wellington exhibition follows Marty’s recent success in the Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards. Not only did he receive an Excellence Award, but he also won the prestigious Prime Minister’s Supreme Excellence Award 2010.

Marty is an accomplished artist in his own right, as well as a teacher.

He founded the Print Workshop at the Quay School of the Arts in Whanganui 20 years ago, and developed it as a central hub for printmaking in New Zealand. Last year he received a Fulbright award which allowed him to visit the legendary Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts in Pendleton, Oregon.

He has also studied papermaking and printmaking in the United Kingdom, as a Nuffield Foundation Scholar. In 2007 he was the first Artist in Residence at the University of Hawaii Print Workshop (Manoa), and has been invited back for another residency.

Read More: “Marty Vreede exhibition opens in Wellington”…

Four talented Whanganui UCOL Fashion students have made the final of the 2010 Westfield Style Pasifika NZ Fashion Awards.

Graduate Alice Walter, who completed the Bachelor of Fashion degree last year, is also in the final, in the Three Piece Collection category.

Garments by the finalists will be featured in the Westfield Style Pasifika show – a two hour entertainment spectacular of traditional and contemporary fashion, dance and music, to be held in Auckland on Friday 3 September.

Year Two Bachelor of Fashion student Mary Estall is a finalist in the Pasifika Menswear category.

Year Two student Hannah Blackburn is a finalist in the Parent & Child category.

Year Two student Sade Ngatai is a finalist in the Pasifika Bridal category.

Year Three student Laura Barr is a finalist in the Three Piece Collection category.

Interim Head of Creative Programmes at Whanganui UCOL, Sally-Jane de Salazar, says the Westfield Style Pasifika awards are hotly contested and attract professional and student designers from throughout New Zealand.

“It’s outstanding that four of our students have made the final. It means their designs will be on show to a huge audience at the show itself and to an even bigger audience in the subsequent television programme.

“They have shown great flair, creativity and design skill to reach the finals with their garments. We wish them well.”

Westfield Style Pasifika will be held at the Vector Arena on Friday 3 September at 7.30pm. The show will be filmed for a later primetime broadcast on TV One. Read More: “Whanganui Fashion students in Westfield final”…