What’s our distance learning difference? It’s the almost 30,000 learners who join us each year to study and achieve their career and personal goals.
It’s Open Polytechnic being New Zealand’s specialist distance learning provider for over 70 years. All our learners study by distance.
Distance learning is what we do.
Teaching by distance learning
Our programmes are designed exclusively for distance learning. Our online courses include a range of rich content to engage you – readings, videos, interactive elements, case studies, quizzes and activities, and forums.
Our course leaders are experts at teaching by distance learning. It’s what they do.
They will be with you every step of the way to encourage you, and ensure you understand the course content. They will help you gain the skills and knowledge you need, so that you can succeed.
If you need other support or help, we’ve got a range of people here for you. With Open Polytechnic, you’re not alone.
How we’ll support your studies
What our learners say
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84% of learners rated course leader support in the range of good to excellent.
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77% of learners agree that their course was clear and well organised.
It fits in with other important priorities I have. There is a virtual classroom where you can connect with other students and there is fantastic support from lecturers. It really doesn't feel like you are alone at all. I also like being able to log-in remotely, pick up the study at a time of day or night that works for me, and continually make progress at a pace that is reasonable, given my lifestyle and other commitments. It is an excellent option and the resources available are fantastic.
Tia Minnoch - Diploma in Child and Adolescent Psychology (Level 6) graduate.
Online learning, designed for distance
We designed our online learning platform, iQualify, with distance and online learning in mind.
We created it to work for learners who don’t go to class. We created it for learners who need to study where and when they need to. Learners who can’t always carry around a load of resources, but can grab their laptop or have their phone at hand.
With iQualify you get all your course content in one place, as well as a place to contact with your lecturer or other learners and keep your study notes.
We’re not the only ones using iQualify. We’re proud to say iQualify works for distance and classroom learning. It is being used by other training providers, schools, government agencies, and organisations.
Learn more about our online study tools
I love the online format, it's fantastic. Even if you just have half an hour, you can go and do some reading. You don’t even need internet connection as I have browsed through pages while on a flight. It just makes things so much easier.
Jenaia Clarke - Bachelor of Business (Marketing) graduate
Value for money
We know that tertiary education is a big financial commitment for our learners. With that in mind, we’ve worked hard to keep our course costs down.
For the last three years Open Polytechnic has not increased our course fees. We also offer a range of free courses to help encourage people into tertiary education.
Learn more about fees free study
Another way we’re working to ensure you get value for money is by putting all the learning resources you need in your online course content. So for most of our courses you won’t need to buy textbooks or extra learning materials.
What our learners say
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81% of learners say Open Polytechnic courses are good value for money.
Workplace ready
We work hard to ensure our qualifications will make you ready for the next step in your career.
When we develop our programmes we gain input from industry and professional bodies. This helps us ensure we are teaching people the skills needed in today’s workforce. We also ensure our programmes are accredited and recognised by relevant professional bodies.
What our learners say
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90% of learners believe their employers would consider their qualification valuable.
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87% of learners say their study is valuable for a future job.
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96% of learners say their study is valuable for their current job.
Anneka Sanger, Graduate Diploma in HR Management, discusses how her study has helped in the workplace.
Download our latest prospectus
At Open Polytechnic we specialise in flexible, distance and online learning that is designed to help you fit study around your work and life commitments.
For more information about what we offer when you study with us, and what you can study, download our prospectus (PDF 15MB)
Learn more
Related information
How studying by distance with us works
How we'll support your studies