Overview

Kia ora. Welcome to Ara. Ara Institute of Canterbury is a vibrant, progressive, government-funded institute providing world-class, tertiary-level education. Our objective is to empower students to build better worlds. We want every Ara student to be equipped for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and we achieve this by providing relevant courses, taught by inspirational mentors in real-life learning environments.

Our talented staff, innovative industry partners and supportive community play a significant role in contributing to this outcome. Collectively, we're committed to ensuring that every student has the industry-relevant knowledge, skills and experience they need to get the job they want and to excel in it.

Our learning models and course content continually evolve to respond to industry and regional needs. To ensure our students have real-world experience and graduate work-ready, we offer an ever-expanding array of workplace training opportunities, internships, apprenticeships and partnerships with industry. And to meet the demand for flexible study options, we offer an increasing range of online, blended delivery and part-time programmes.

These measures, combined with a low student-to-tutor ratio and comprehensive support services, ensure our students thrive in an inclusive, nurturing, flexible and technology-enhanced study environment where meaningful learning experiences are the norm.

And it means that when they head out into the world, our graduates are equipped with internationally-relevant qualifications, valuable industry connections and skills that will enable them to contribute to a fast-changing world.

Key Information
>New Zealand Government-owned
>The largest institute of technology in the South Island
>Established 1906
>More than 100 years of applied vocational learning
>Member of International Association of Universities
>Longstanding international teaching and research partnerships
>Number of students: 19,000/year
>International students: 1,800 (from over 50 countries)
>NZQA Category 1 institution
>Approved provider for Pathway visas under the Immigration NZ pilot programme
>Class size: range from 16 - 100, average 20
>Minimum age: 17 years old; no maximum age
>Hours per week: 15-20 hours lecture time, additional 20-40 hours of self-study time
>Seamless study pathways
>More than 150 study options