Source: Open Polytechnic
Open Polytechnic turns 80 this year, celebrating its history of providing hundreds of thousands of Kiwis access to career-focussed, flexible distance learning wherever they live.
“Since 1946 we have been helping learners from all over Aotearoa New Zealand change their lives through access to flexible distance learning,” says Open Polytechnic Chief Executive Sharon Cooke.
“Over its 80-year history, Open Polytechnic has continually evolved to meet the changing vocational learning needs of New Zealand’s workforce.”
Open Polytechnic has gone from enrolling 615 learners in 1946 to 40,000 today, with 73% of learners studying while working and 97% studying part-time.
Graduates include industry leaders and business owners who have made the most of studying with New Zealand’s leading flexible online learning provider to advance or change their careers.
Well-known landscape designer Bayley LuuTomes changed careers from advertising to horticulture more than a decade ago and has never looked back.
He worked as a gardener in Wellington, before enrolling in Open Polytechnic’s National Certificate in Horticulture (Level 4) which he completed in 2012.
Since then, Bayley has run his own business for the past decade, Bayley LuuTomes Design and travels the world from his Christchurch base designing gardens.
In recent years, he has also appeared on My Green Dream Home TV show and worked with Open Polytechnic Academic Staff Member in floristry Megan Parker on The Welcome Garden at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. One of many international shows he has exhibited at.
“Studying through Open Polytechnic gave me the foundation and confidence to pursue a career in landscape design,” Bayley says.
“When I enrolled, I could never have imagined that my career would one day take me onto international stages, television screens, and award-winning projects around the world.”
Waikato-based Sabine Lang used her New Zealand Certificate in Business (Small Business) (Level 4) to help set up her own gluten-free bakery called Lang’s Little Bakery in 2023.
“I could’ve never pulled off starting or running my own business without the knowledge I gained during the programme,” Sabine says.
“It has not only given me the knowledge, but also the confidence.”
The family business is going so well that it has hired two additional staff and is looking to expand its operation from a food trailer to a bakery shop and cafe in Cambridge in the Waikato soon.
Taking her career to new heights, Open Polytechnic graduate Hana Whaanga (Ngāti Rakaipaaka) is now a nominated member of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) national board.
Hana graduated from Open Polytechnic with a Bachelor of Library and Information Studies (BLIS) in 2023 and works as a Learning and Discovery Librarian at the Hastings District Libraries, where she has been for the past nine years.
“Having my Open Polytechnic tohu (qualification) makes me feel incredibly proud of the work I’ve done to date in and for this field. I am most proud of the depth of relationships that I have developed and nurtured over time and this whanaungatanga (sense of connection) is what I value overall,” Hana says.
History of Open Polytechnic
Open Polytechnic began life as the Technical Correspondence School under its first principal Dr John Nicol, opening on 1 July 1946, providing distance learning from its home base in Wellington.
Its role was to provide resettlement training, predominantly in trades and farming subjects, for returned servicemen and women following World War 2.
Courses in these early years covered farming, motor mechanics, engineering, agriculture, horticulture, surveying, electrics, plumbing, textiles and more.
Under 1990 tertiary education reforms, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand name was introduced, resulting in a fundamental change to the organisation’s role as an education provider for learners anywhere in New Zealand.
With this change, Open Polytechnic became the specialist national provider of open and distance learning at tertiary level.
The education reforms meant that the Open Polytechnic was able to start offering degrees, with the first graduate of its Bachelor of Business in 1995.
Fast forward to 2026 and Open Polytechnic offers more than 100 qualifications and 1,000 courses from certificate to diploma and degree level and is one of the oldest distance learning institutions in the world.
Degrees at Open Polytechnic are now offered in accountancy and business, applied management, psychology, communication, information technology, information & library studies, social health and wellbeing, social work, engineering technology, and early childhood education. Open Polytechnic also offers certificates and diplomas in construction management, engineering, business and small business, psychology, information technology, health and wellbeing, legal executive and real estate, pharmacy, education and financial services.
About Open Polytechnic
Open Polytechnic is New Zealand’s largest specialist provider of open and distance learning; Open Polytechnic enrols over 40,000 mainly part-time learners per year. The majority of learners are adult learners, combining work and study.
Website: www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz