Nationwide Roadshow to launch qualifications in Sustainable Practice

A biodiesel fuelled roadshow designed to deliver the message that sustainable practice increasingly equals success and to promote the launch of a new qualification hits the road next week. The qualification is designed so people in full employment could get credit for the work they do embedding sustainable practice anywhere in New Zealand.



The roadshow, organized by the Otago Polytechnic Centre for Sustainable Practice and supported by Biodiesel New Zealand and Queenstown businesses Nomad Safaris and Ziptrek Ecotours, starts in Auckland next Saturday (October 9) and makes its way south to finish in Queenstown on November 5 for the Queenstown Lakes Sustainable Business Expo. Presentations will be held in most centres - see the schedule below and the host partners.



The Polytechnic has created two new qualifications, a Certificate in Sustainable Practice (Level 5) and a Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Practice (Level 7) to recognize and the work that is being done in this field and in response to demand to build practical experience around the theory.



Course manager of the Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice, Steve Henry, says the training courses offer students the tools to embed sustainable practice into their communities.



“The courses each contain an action-focused elective which gets students to focus on solving particular sustainability issues within their own work environment or field of interest. Part of our focus during the roadshow is to inspire businesses, local governments and other organisations to come up with special projects students can complete,” said Mr Henry. “We want to come back with a good bank of problems to put clever thinking around.”



“This roadshow, and the qualifications, are about aligning economic, environmental and social success,” he said. “Rising natural resource costs and increasing demand for them makes the business case compelling. We don’t need to be talking about the ‘why’ anymore, it’s about the ‘how’.”



The new Grad. Dip., scheduled to begin in February 2011 will be based in Wanaka and is expected to attract adults who are graduates or the equivalent, both from the Southern region and distance students.



“Wanaka is fast becoming a centre for expertise in this area, the community and several individual businesses have embraced the concepts and completed projects through organizations such as Wanaka Waste Busters and Sustainable Wanaka. Wanaka is the natural home for this course.”



Mr Henry says the qualifications will help both private and public sectors reap financial, environmental and social rewards.



“Councils, government departments and businesses are beginning to understand that sustainable practice is increasingly best practice that delivers positive results to bottom lines. These courses are designed for those organisations and for students who see themselves either following a career in this field or seeing sustainable practice as a valuable and useful add on to another qualification.”



The Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Practice Level 7 qualification can be carried out anywhere in New Zealand and could be completed in eight months, either part time alongside work or full time, based at the Centre for Sustainable Practice in Central Otago.



“This is a model of education with a difference,” Henry said. “This course is for everyone but particularly for those who want to focus on practical outcomes they can bring to their employment places and communities.”