In November, the Liaison Team hosted 10 Career Advisors from lower South Island secondary schools at the Dunedin Campus. The Career Advisors had a great experience learning about what programmes we offer at OP, what those programmes entail, our links to local industry and graduate outcomes.

This is an important event so they can now pass on their understanding of OP to their students.

The opening morning started beautifully with Te Punaka Ōwheo guiding the group through Tinana Whakaoriori (a cleansing exercise). This led into updates about RoVE and Campus Developments and highlighting the roles within Student Success. The rest of the event comprised of information sessions, tours of our facilities, and off-site visits including Forsyth Barr Stadium, Runaway Play and the new Heavy Automotive facility at Kaikorai Valley.

Over 60 OP staff, graduates and students presented to the delegates. Many others were involved behind the scenes ensuring we showcased a lot of what OP has to offer. A constant theme from our teaching staff was how important the role of support services are with Student Success and Te Punaka Ōwheo mentioned a number of times.

The Career Advisors often spoke about how obvious it is that our staff are passionate about where we work and what we do. Our values really shone through and what I saw during the three days made me immensely proud to work at OP.