Pictured from left: MP for Northland, Grant McCallum was in Invercargill last week to visit SIT’s campus with MP for Invercargill and Minister for Tertiary Education, Hon Penny Simmonds, hosted by SIT Chief Executive, Bharat Guha.
MP for Northland, Grant McCallum made a visit to Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) last Friday to learn about SIT’s HyFlex delivery mode and view the School of Nursing clinical suites
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Mr McCallum is involved with assisting his local polytechnic, NorthTec, with their plan to return to independence again in 2027 and is working closely with MP for Invercargill and Minister for Tertiary Education, Hon Penny Simmonds, to achieve this.
Mr McCallum’s visit concentrated on viewing the SIT School of Nursing clinical suites and the range of programmes SIT offers. NorthTec has a highly regarded nursing degree programme, and they are looking at building simulation clinical suites.
SIT’s modes of delivery - onsite, HyFlex and distance – were of particular interest to Mr McCallum. He noted HyFlex delivery looks to be the most promising for a region like Northland as it allows working people to study when it suits them, removing barriers to further education.
SIT was an early adopter of HyFlex (Hybrid-Flexible); the delivery mode allows greater flexibility in how learners achieve their qualifications. They can study any mixture of in-person on campus, synchronously online (in time with scheduled classes), and asynchronously online (at their own time). Importantly, learners have the same tutor for all three modes of learning and access to the same types of resources as their peers, as well as engagement with other students both off- and on-campus. The student chooses and can tailor their learning based on their needs.
Mr McCallum said the SIT campus tour highlighted the importance of offering quality tertiary opportunities in towns like Invercargill and the wider Southland area, bringing a sense of vibrancy and pride, and demonstrating the potential NorthTec can offer the Northland community.
Given the importance of the nursing programme to NorthTec, Mr McCallum added it was also fantastic to view the SIT School of Nursing clinical suites. “Once again, this highlights the importance of the progress we have made by securing funding for the rebuild of NorthTec,” he said.