Statistics give 'unfair' impression of SIT work

Information compiled by the Tertiary Education Commission would have a negative impact on the Southern Institute of Technology, the chief executive said this week.

SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds told the council the TEC would release consolidated figures on course completions, programme completions, student progression and student retention.

"There are some unfortunate anomalies that will mean the published figures won't necessarily enable apples with apples comparisons," she said.

She said there were "quite a lot" of issues around publishing the figures.

Ms Simmonds told the meeting part-time business students who completed individual papers to upskill would not be counted as completing a programme.

It was an important role SIT played for the local businesses, she said, but reduced overall completion rates, and SIT had to ask itself if it was worth continuing.

Another example Ms Simmonds used was the pre-employment hairdressing programme.

Extra credits were added to the programme at the request of industry, she said, so students had the opportunity to complete all first year apprentice theory units if they chose to.

Most were not completing the extra credits, and though they finished the full 120 credit National Certificate, the course showed poor completion rates because of the added credits not being taken up.

"The fact we've put in a bigger programme to meet industry needs, we can't afford to do that if it's going to impact on us negatively."

She said students studying new programmes would not be registered as completed until the first class of students had been through the whole programme.

"There is a real disadvantage to starting new courses as it drags the average down for a few years."

She said institutions such as SIT with a high concentration of part-time and distance students will be negatively affected.

"It's going to be up to us to put it (the completion rates) into context for our local community," she said.

"You can measure performance but you have to be measuring the right things for it to be meaningful. Some of this might not be as meaningful as it should be."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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