17 December 2009

First Staff meeting for 2010
Remember, our first staff meeting for 2010 is on February 4th. We will commence the day with the usual BBQ from 7.30am at Manaaki followed by the staff meeting in the University of Otago College of Education Auditorium at 9.00am. The staff meeting will be followed by a half day of staff development activities which are highly relevant to the year ahead. See Insite for the draft programme.

Christmas Cheer - Special offer:
Otago Polytechnic’s very own Bannockburn Road Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2008, for sale.

Central Otago had a bumper crop in 2008, and as the fruit was too good to sacrifice, it was made into quality wine and bottled as cleanskins, with the intention of making it available to staff at a really fantastic price.

The grapes were grown by students, but the wine made for us by Quartz Reef. Therefore this is a quality Central Otago Pinot Noir, and is yours for the fantastic price of 180/case ($15/bottle). Case purchases only thanks.

Please place your orders by emailing Barbara on barbara.emmitt@op.ac.nz

Professor Annemarie Jutel
The Professorial Committee at its most recent meeting recommended that Associate Professor Annemarie Jutel be appointed to a position of Full Professor. The committee comprising senior staff from Otago Polytechnic, Auckland University and Auckland University of Technology were unanimous in their praise for the level of and development of Annemarie’s scholarly work, particularly the development of her area of research on the “Sociology of Diagnosis”. Annemarie’s work is leading in this area and she has published prolifically in international journals and is working with multidisciplinary teams to develop this research further. Annemarie is also on the Editorial Board of a number of journals and is a reviewer for several others as well as being invited regularly to present her work internationally.

Happy Christmas
This is the last Update for the year and on behalf of Leadership Team I would like to thank all staff for your many and varied contributions to our success this year. It has been a very challenging year but we have finished up in a good place: on budget, strong enrolments for 2010 and most of all in good spirit. We are looking forward to a good year in 2010, leveraging off the many organisational improvements we have made this year. It is certainly time for rest and recreation, so we hope you all have a happy Christmas and a good quality break. See you in the New Year.

Best wishes
Phil on behalf of Leadership Team

3 December 2009

Software Requirements 2010
Over the Christmas break ISS will be working hard to ensure classroom computers are fit for purpose for 2010. Please read the attached memo from Michael Collins and do your bit to ensure everything works well for our students next year.

Computer Upgrades
As well as updating computer software in our classrooms ISS will be upgrading computers – hopefully those dreadfully slow computer boot ups will be a thing of the past!

Leadership Programme Development Approvals
Approval has been given for the development of two new programmes in Hospitality:
· Bachelor in Culinary Arts
· Diploma in Professional Cookery Level 5

Formative Assessment
Attached to Update sent via Outlook is an article which talks of an assessment revolution which has already swept through our primary and secondary schools and is about to enter the halls of tertiary organisations. The article is a "must read" for all academic staff. The stand out line for me is: "of all the factors that make a difference to student outcomes, the power of feedback is paramount in any list".

Part of our programme review discussion in 2010 will be about assessment practices in each programme - and especially those where student success needs to improve, so please take a look at the attached article.

Assessment Results
The year is rapidly drawing to a close, and we know everyone is intent on tidying up all of those administrative loose ends. But one of the big ones is finalising and entering in Jasper assessment results. We will really appreciate it if care is taken to ensure that 100% of results are in before heading off on leave.

Blackboard
A reminder to all staff that Blackboard will cease to operate from December 31st . Please notify EDC as soon as possible if you have any students still needing to access online course materials over January. Assistance is also available to help with organising your resources that have been migrated into Moodle… please don’t leave it until February!

Relocations
As most of you will now be aware the various relocations that are happening around campus over the semester break have started and there is a lot of activity. For those who are involved in the shifts this is obviously a very busy and demanding time, especially within such a short time frame, and we can appreciate that in some cases people are having to clean out/pack up things that have been gathered over quite a few years in this short time. Thanks to everyone involved for your cooperation and understanding during this busy period. There are sure to be lots of questions about various aspects of the moves. Please direct these questions to your HOS/HOP/Service Managers in the first instance who can then escalate them to the appropriate people.

Due to the sheer logistics of moving many people within a tight time period, there is a high chance something may get moved/not moved in error, or a small detail such as a pinboard or whiteboard may be missing or not quite in the right place when you arrive in you new destination. Again, please identify this to your HOS/HOP/Service Managers and it will be rectified for you as soon as possible. The physical moving of equipment/boxes will be completed for staff, hence the need for everything to be clearly labelled. Whilst offers of help are appreciated, please do not move anything yourself. We would like to avoid manual handling injuries and there is a specialist team of shifters to assist.

It is important that that this process is followed to avoid confusion and complete the task on time.

If you would like any more information or have any questions please feel free to contact the project manager Brian Shea via your HOS/HOP/Service Managers.

Christmas Party
Don’t forget that the staff Christmas get together will be held at Manaaki tomorrow Friday 4 December, with food and drinks available from 3pm. Partners welcome. Taxi chits available if needed (see Paula Petley). See you there!

Cheers
Phil, on behalf of the Leadership Team

20 November 2009

Staff Forum
The next staff forum will be held 12 – 1pm in G106 on Friday 4 December. Topic to be advised.

Review of Work Environment Survey
We would like to capture any feedback for improving the Work Environment Survey whilst this is fresh in people’s minds. If you have any suggestions for improvement, please send directly to Stuart Terry stuartt@op.ac.nz.

Improving the Work Environment
Attached to the Update sent via Outlook is an action planning tool which has been sent to managers to help focus attention on those aspects of the work environment which need improvement.

• The tool indicates where responsibility lies for initiating action, wherever results are under 80%. Priorities are established as follows:
  - Priority 1: any element where the result is under 60%
  - Priority 2: any element where the result is below 61% and 70%
  - Priority 3: any element where the result is between 71% and 80% AND tracking down
  - Managers will transfer their own area results across to the template, for each of the three priority areas and will be expected to demonstrate at the time of the 2010 Programme/Service Area reviews action in accordance with the priorities.
  - Leadership Team will be following through on all areas with the priorities for which we have primary responsibility.
  We encourage all staff to take individual responsibility for helping to improve our work environment, by taking action in the areas identified.
  
  The second attachment shows the priorities for the Polytechnic at large. We are making workload and work related stress our major social sustainability focus for 2010.

Email Address
The migration from Novell to Microsoft has enabled the capability for staff e-mail addresses to now be firstname.surname@op.ac.nz . This new address is already in place for all current staff so you can start to use it immediately. This and your current address name will work for a period of time. However, as you update your business cards, stationery, e-contact details you should start using the new address.

Christmas Cards
In the interests of sustainability, we have resolved to not have Christmas Cards printed this year, but will have an e’version available soon for those who like to send Christmas greetings.

Turning Point
The following dates have been set for Turning Point programmes in 2010:
27,28,29 January
10,11,12 March
14,15,16 April
20 June, 1,2 July
4,5,6 October

For those of you who have not heard of Turning Point, the course is very much about personal development - it is about you enhancing your understanding of yourself, and enhancing your personal effectiveness, whether that be in your work or personal life. The course has the potential not only to help you cope better, and be more effective, but also to equip you to assist your work colleagues to do the same. You will not only gain fresh personal insights, but also many useful tools and techniques.

Please book in with Jeanette Corson early, and please understand that your booking is a commitment and a priority, so be sure you really do want to take advantage of the programme.

Ako Aotearoa Good Practice Publication Grants
We have had three publications published in the Ako Aotearoa Good Practice Publication Grant e-book which is available on the Ako Aotearoa website www.akoaotearoa.ac.nz/gppg-ebook. These publications were awarded in the 2008 round of the Good Practice Publication Grant scheme:
Ø The Benefits of Open Educational Resources
Ø Simpa – A Very Useful Toolkit
Ø Assessment of Prior Learning Using Graduate Profiles

Congratulations to those involved with the applications.

Congratulations
To Kay Lion, who has been appointed HoS, School of Applied Business, effective immediately. Kay has been Associate HoS for the last 2 years, and takes over from Chris Morland who has been Acting HoS for the last 12 months, as well as Group Manager. Thanks Chris for a job well done.

Christmas Party
A reminder that our annual Christmas get together will be held on Friday 4 December from 3pm at Manaaki. If you do not already have this date in your diary, do so now! Come along and enjoy some food, drinks and fun with your colleagues.

Cheers
Phil, on behalf of the Leadership Team

6 November 2009

Staff Forum
Next staff forum will be 13 November in G204 (note room change) at 12.00. There will be a presentation showing how far the Polytechnic has come over the last five years or so in terms of strengthening our financial viability and sustainability.

Insite
Congratulations to all those who have worked on the development of Insite – a great result. This is a vast improvement on Polybase and offers exciting potential for improving our communications many times over.

Opportunities for Improvement (OFI) Programme
Talking about Insite, you may have noticed the section headed up Opportunities for Improvement (OFI). As yet, there has been very little use but that is probably because we have not yet explained what this is all about. Hopefully what follows addresses that.

We all know the challenges that we face and securing the sustainability of the Polytechnic and I’m sure we all appreciate that developing a strong continuous improvement culture is a prerequisite not just for financial sustainability, but for keeping ourselves at the top of the sector in terms of educational quality.

To help us grow an improvement culture we are introducing the OFI programme and we sincerely hope that “OFI” becomes part of our every day language.

The essence of the programme is to encourage staff to submit their ideas for improving what we do and how we go about it by being public about these suggestions and by requiring that they be taken seriously by those who are responsible for the areas about which suggestions are made. So, we not only want to encourage you to think about how to improve services in your own area, but also other areas in the Polytechnic. We hope that improvement suggestions will be constructive and received non defensively and in the spirit with which they are given.

The rules of the game in essence are:

• Any staff member can register a new OFI. It is really easy to do!
• The Manager of the area to which the OFI relates will be alerted to the suggestion by email and is required to consider the suggestion and to respond
  The Manager can do any of the following:
  o Accept the suggestion and set about to give it effect, explaining the likely timeframes.
  o Accept the suggestion in principal and to undertake more investigation and indicate when a final decision is likely to be made.
  o Reject the suggestion and explain why. This may well be on budgetary grounds in which case all such OFIs will be accumulated and considered for possible implementation when we do the next budget or reforecast.

So, you can see that it is our intention to have public accountability around the suggestions which you have for improving the Polytechnic. What’s important though is that suggestions are put forward constructively and not frivolously. Those putting forward suggestions are required to identify themselves so that the responsible Manager can engage in further discussion and clarification if need be.

Why not give it a go – I’m sure that there are plenty of ideas just waiting to be aired.

Work Environment Survey
We are in the process of posting the WES reports on Insite. All of the reports will be available for staff to peruse and you are encouraged to do so.

Tertiary Education Strategy (TES)
You will be aware that government is developing a new TES which will be the key document which steers the tertiary sector the next five years. In the draft, government has given some really clear signals about what it expects of the tertiary sector:

• A more efficient sector (surprise, surprise!)
• Better educational performance, i.e. better course and qualification completions, more New Zealanders achieving higher level qualifications and especially degrees
• A priority to young people, i.e. those under 25

However, the draft strategy was wanting in several key areas and we have put in a Polytechnic submission to endeavour to encourage a better final strategy. The draft strategy itself can be accessed through the TEC website.

Our financial challenges – how far have we come?
There will be a presentation on this at the next staff forum. You will see that our efforts to ensure a financially sound 2010 have been successful and barring unforeseen major disasters, 2010 will be a good year. You will also see that we still have work to do for 2011 when the funding cuts really kick in. However, our success so far gives Leadership Team considerable confidence that we can position ourselves appropriately for 2011; and time is certainly now on our side for us to achieve this.

Applications and Enrolments for 2010
At this stage applications are looking strong for 2010 and we are running approximately 15% ahead compared with the same time last year. Our approach to this strong demand will be to accept as many students as we possibly can in Semester 1 and to worry about possible “over enrolment”, should it occur, in Semester 2. Heads of School have been asked to prepare contingency plans to run additional occurrences if demand does warrant this and to ensure that every occurrence is full. This includes anticipating the inevitable withdrawals that occur in the first few weeks by “over enrolling” unless this is unreasonably risky in terms of the availability of specialist equipment or health and safety reasons.

We can all help achieve a successful start to the year by encouraging people we meet to consider study at the Polytechnic and by providing top notch services to those who make enquiries or who are on campus checking us out.

Puna Kawa
Yesterday Council accepted a Leadership Team recommendation to change the name of the Council Room to “Puna Kawa”. We made this recommendation as an important symbolic step towards raising awareness around te reo, as part of our commitment to Otago Polytechnic being a learning environment supportive of Maori. There will be no translation of Puna Kawa which has the meaning “the place where things happen” – which of course is exactly the purpose of the Council Room.

Cheers
Phil, on behalf of Leadership Team

Staff Forum
The next staff forum will be held 12 – 1pm in H127 on Friday 30 October. Topic to be advised. Please note change of room.

Head of School – School of Art
I am pleased to advise that Professor Leoni Schmidt has been appointed as head of the School of Art. We wish Leoni well in her new position.

Congratulations
Congratulations to our Chaplain, Mike Wright, who yesterday was inaugurated as a Justice of the Peace. Well done!

BITLAN 2009
Over the weekend the School of Information Technology ran a very successful BITLAN at the Art School Gallery, attended by 50 gamers from as far afield as Christchurch. For the non-IT person, a LAN event is a 24 hour BYOC (bring your own computer) gaming experience. Tim Elder kept the teams focused all night with challenging computer game tournaments and prizes.

The event was generously sponsored this year by PBTech, who supplied Gigabit switches and $600 of prizes. The network, servers and power systems to supply the requirements of the 50 participants were developed by our technician, Ashley Martin, and installed with the help of a team of volunteers.

Thanks to all who contributed – including ICT staff and students and the Campus Environment team.

Successful Panel Visits Last Week
Last Monday we hosted the Accreditation Panel for the Metro Group’s collaboratively developed Bachelor of Engineering Technology. The programme document is in the final approval process and the panel met to assess our capability to deliver the degree. We have some easy-to-meet requirements to enable the panel to recommend accreditation to ITP Quality Board.

Congratulations to John Findlay and his team, and a particular mention to the involvement of Glenice Mayo.

On Wednesday and Thursday the Accreditation and Approval Panel for the suite of post-graduate visual arts programmes met. The Panel was satisfied with our submission, we have no requirements and they will recommend to NZQA that we be given approval and accreditation for this suite of programmes.

Congratulations to Leoni Schmidt, and in particular Bridie Lonie and Rodney Browne who were the main developers of the programmes.

A big ‘thank you’ to all School of Art staff who met with the Panel and presented such a cohesive articulation for the qualifications.

Work Environment Survey Results
Thank you for the excellent response to the survey. The Chief Executive Office was the first area to have 100% completion so have won a team meal at TECHnique. A draw has been held of those areas who also attained 100% completion – HR, Midwifery, Leadership Team and Customer Services and I am pleased to advise that Midwifery are the winners and have also won a meal at TECHnique. Enjoy!

The survey results themselves were very positive, especially in the circumstances, i.e. we are undergoing a lot more change as we work towards meeting that huge financial challenge for 2011. Three of the overall reports are attached to the Update sent via Outlook:

· Overall Trend Analysis 2004 - 2009
· Overall Comments Report
· Overall Results Report

(please don’t print all of these – they are big documents!)

We did have an all-time record response rate this year – 78%, which was good to see – thank you. For most of the dimensions in the survey the agreement level has increased over last year and in many areas are also at an all-time high e.g. 94.3% of respondents reporting they are happy in their work; and 84.4% feeling valued. 93.3% feel they are treated fairly and 92.3% agree that their right to hold and speak an opinion is respected.

It was particularly good to see such a high level of understanding of and agreement with our Polytechnic vision, goals and objectives, and an extremely high endorsement of our organisational values. It is reassuring to have this support.

However there are some downsides, which were not unexpected but which we will be taking seriously:

· 29% of respondents are experiencing unacceptable levels of work related stress
· 28% of respondents do not experience a sense of trust at the Polytechnic
· 40.5% of respondents report not being able to take regular breaks during allocated work hours and 31% are not able to make use of their allocated professional development time.
· 35.8% of respondents find staff morale in their work area not to be high – although this is down from 40.1% last year.

Where to next?
The School and Service Area reports will all be completed this week, and will be distributed for discussion and action planning (where needed) in your work areas. We will be looking for ways to lift our game in all these areas where agreement ratings are below 80%, and especially where they are below 70%. Watch this space!

Automotive Repair Service Staff Trial
The Automotive staff are about to trial a new initiative to operate a working garage as part of the student experience, and put the “applied” into applied and hands-on learning.

The trial begins on October 19 and runs to October 30 and is available to all staff who work at OP. If it is successful it will become part of the full time automotive programme offered for 2010, and will provide you with an onsite solution to your automotive requirements. For a list of services offered, and the costs, please see the information sheet attached to Update sent via Outlook.

Book in early so you won’t be disappointed!! Email CaraS@tekotago.ac.nz

Turning Point 2010
We have just finished our last Turning Point for 2009, and feedback from participants has once again been excellent.

We will be running TP again in 2010, and are planning two courses, if there is the demand, at the start of the year:

January 27, 28 29
February 1, 2, 3

For those of you who have not had the TP experience this will be a great start to the year – guaranteed! Please book in with Jeanette Corson, and if you can do either of these dates please let her know – that flexibility really helps the planning.


Cheers
Phil, on behalf of the Leadership Team

23 September 2009

Staff Forum
The next staff forum will be held 12 – 1pm in G106 on Friday 9 October. Topic: Q&A.

Promotion Round - Associate Professors and Professors
I am pleased to announce our fifth promotions round for professorial positions. Up to four promotions may be made in accordance with our policy (AP403). Applications are to be sent to Robin Day by Friday, 30 October. For more information about the professorial positions please refer to “Managing Your Career” on Polybase. For advice regarding the promotions process, please contact Robin.

Nominations for Student and Staff Awards
Nominations for Student and Staff Awards are now open and are to be received by the Deputy Chief Executive office no later than 5pm on 30 October 2009. Attached to the Update sent via Outlook is a memo from Robin Day, outlining the awards available. Nomination forms and further information are in the attached policies - including purpose, evaluation panel membership, criteria and nominations (who you can nominate for what).

Staffing Reviews
It is with considerable regret that I need to advise you of staffing redundancies in the School of Art and the Community Learning Centres in Wanaka and Alexandra. We will be losing 5 colleagues from the School of Art and one each from the two Community Learning Centres. These decisions are solely a consequence of the funding cuts which we are trying to cope with for 2010 and 2011. Regrettably, we are unable to continue to cross-subsidise areas of the Polytechnic that are unable to pay their way. This is a very stressful time for the staff concerned and I would very much appreciate your support to your colleagues at this time.

Work Environment survey
Thanks to all of you who completed the Work Environment Survey. We have had a record response rate at over 78% and I know we will be getting valuable feedback. The first of the reports will be available after the semester break.

ACE (Adult Community Education) Awards
Congratulations to the following staff and students who received awards at the ACE Awards ceremony held in the Dunedin Town Hall recently.
Ø Jill Davidson, Programme Manager, Foundation Studies, who was presented with an Exceptional Adult Educator Award
Ø The Learning Centre team, which was collectively the recipient of an Outstanding Educator Award
Ø Students Karyn Hucklebridge and Lynda Jackson, who were each the recipients of Outstanding Adult Learner Awards

Associate Head of School – Social Services
Some of you may be aware that Dianne Begg is planning to retire at the end of the first semester in 2010. We are pleased to advise that Chris Williamson has been appointed as the associate Head of School as from 1 February 2010 and Sally Pairman will take on the HOS role and work with Chris for the School when Dianne retires.

Congratulations
to student and part time staff member from Design, Lisa Richardson, who won an award in the NBR Audacious Student Entrepreneur Challenge held recently. Lisa’s Business called the Foundry, a tourism venture in a new and growing sector ‘creative tourism’, won her the Most Socially Responsible Business Award. The prize value was $2500 to use towards development of the business.

Absence from the Polytechnic
I will be away from the Polytechnic next week on annual leave. Philip Cullen will be acting Chief Executive during that time.

Semester Break
We are about to go into a semester break and I would like to wish all of those of you who can take a break at this time a relaxing holiday. It has been a stressful year to date and we really do need to seize the opportunity to recharge our batteries when we can.

Cheers
Phil, on behalf of the Leadership Team

28 August 2009

Work Environment Survey
The Work Environment Survey (WES) for 2009 opens today, and staff will be able to participate until 5.00pm Friday 18th September.

There have been some refinements to the survey this year, in particular:

• A change to the response categories to: Agree, Tend to Agree, Tend to Disagree, Disagree and where the option is provided – Unable to Judge. This should help somewhat for those questions where people are not cut and dried on their response, yet not destroy comparability with prior years.
• A reordering of the questions, starting with your immediate job and finishing with the perspectives relating to the wider Polytechnic.
• A consultation within the WES re our organisational values. We have had ambiguity about our values, with these appearing in different places both explicitly and implied. Work has been done to synthesise what we have previously expressed and you will be asked to give your views on how they are now expressed.

Please do participate. We know we are all feeling the pressure at the moment, but it is most helpful to see what is still working well for everyone and where the pressure points really are.

As usual, a team meal for the first work area to secure 100% participation by permanent staff and a draw for all areas that secure 100% participation.

Staff Forum
The next staff forum will be held in G106 12 – 1pm on Friday 4 September. This will cover the refined OP Strategy; as well as a general Q & A session.

Spring Breakfast
Have you diaried Tuesday 1st September for our traditional spring breakfast to be held in Manaaki from 7.30am?

Spring in2 it!
I hope you have all registered for the Institute of Sport and Adventure’s healthy workplace challenge. This is a 10 week fun, fitness and food challenge where you will be encouraged to exercise for 30 minutes a day, eat your 5+ a day of fruit and vegetables, and to stay hydrated. If you haven’t already done so, log in to https://springin2it.op.ac.nz/

Leadership Team
New Withdrawals Policy
Proposed changes to the policy extending the last date for withdrawal with a refund, intended to help improve to increase retention and success rates were discussed. A decision has been made to amend the policy as follows:

The final date for withdrawing with a refund from courses in a programme commencing in February 2010 and for Semester One or full year courses in 2010 is 31 March. The final date for withdrawing from courses in a programme that commenced in Semester Two and receiving any refund for 2010 is 31 August.

A 6 – 7 week period following enrolment is proposed with a 75% refund. It was agreed that there be no 10% rule for stand-alone courses and short awards.It was also resolved to develop an Operational Guideline to run alongside the policy: those enrolling in full year programmes are not able to obtain refunds if they withdraw from second semester courses. The issue of how occurrences are entered in the SMS was raised. Sue Thompson will initiate a meeting with key people to identify the issues associated with the proposed changes and report back to the next meeting.

Changes to OP’s Evaluation Framework
The following changes to enhance the current OP evaluation programme were approved:

From 2010:

• the teacher evaluation form is reduced to 10 quantitative questions and two qualitative questions and retaining a similar 5 point rating scale.
  ­Each question will have a descriptor to explain to students about what they are being asked to rate
• a similar but slightly altered 5 point scale of Disagree/Tend to Disagree/Tend to Agree/Agree/Unable to Judge to be used.
• the questions
  ­ What does this lecturer do particularly well and should do more of?
  ­ What could this lecturer improve or do less of?
  will be replaced with
  ­ Please comment on this lecturer’s teaching strengths
  ­ Please comment on how you think this lecturer might improve the teaching and learning in this programme.
• from 2010 the open question course evaluation survey is replaced with a slightly longer 15 question survey consisting of 11 compulsory questions, two questions chosen by the lecturer/school and 2 standard qualitative questions.

New Legislation
Government has now tabled the Education (Polytechnics) Amendment Bill before Parliament. This Bill, if enacted as is, will:

• reduce Council to 8 members, removing staff representatives as such
• give Government the controlling voice on our Councils, through appointing 50% of the council and also the Chair and Deputy Chair
• give greatly enhanced powers for government to intervene in polytechnic affairs.

This bill signals an unprecedented level of government control over a tertiary institution, posing real threats to our autonomy. The full bill is attached to the Update sent via Outlook.

Computer Literacy and Digital Information Literacy Project
A project team has been brought together to develop strategies for raising the overall level of staff capability in computer and digital literacy.

The scope of the project includes:

• Computing tools for work
• OP systems
• Social media
• Digital information literacy
  
  and will involve:

1. identifying, for different job families, the basic computing and digital information literacy knowledge and skills considered necessary for effective job performance, both now and in the near future
2. identifying for different job families/and/or specific functions the advanced or specialist computing and digital information literacy knowledge and skills necessary for effective job performance
3. developing learning strategies and training packages to assist staff to develop their capability. Strategies will involve leadership, champions and the use of technologies in the learning process. It is envisaged that the Community Learning Centres will play the major role in developing training packages and supporting staff learning.

Key outcomes of the project will be more capable staff i.e:

• enhanced competence and
• enhanced confidence to use the skills acquired.
  

Revised Strategy
Attached to the Update sent via Outlook is a Powerpoint outlining the Polytechnic’s revised strategy, which is substantively the pathway we have been on, but much more focused and simplified – to reflect the challenge we now face.

Also explicit are the organisational values (see item re WES) and the organisational culture which we need to develop to ensure future success in the “brave new world”.

University of Hawaii
Attached to Update sent via Outlook is some positive thinking by the University of Hawaii, in negative funding times. They see two sides to their current situation – feeling “beat-up” versus “up-beat”. A similar situation to our own - we are constantly feeling beat up by TEC, yet there are so many “up beat” things happening around us which remind us that our efforts are all worth it!

Cheers
Phil, on behalf of the Leadership Team