Waiariki Business Lecturer Wins Research Award

15 November 2012

Media Alert

Waiariki Business Lecturer Wins Research Award

A Waiariki Institute of Technology tutor has received national recognition for her research.

Vivienne Kermode is the senior tutor and coordinator of the Diploma in Business Administration online at Waiariki. She and research co-author Eth Lloyd received the New Zealand Association for Training and Development (NZATD) Education Trust Learning and Development Research of the Year 2012 Merit Award.

Ms Kermode and Ms Lloyd’s research was tilted, “Linkages between workplace assessment and formal tertiary level training – Filling the knowledge gap for administrative professionals undertaking their Diploma in Business Administration Level 5”.

“We did the research to try to tell people that workplaces and ITPs [Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics] can work together to achieve,” Ms Kermode says. “Historically, there’s a real block there. What we’re trying to prove is that it can be done collaboratively. It works for us and it works for the students.”

Students of the National Diploma in Business Administration (Level 5) are assessed in their workplace. When knowledge or skill gaps are discovered, Ms Kermode is contacted and the students are set up with the online courses at Waiariki that they need to close those gaps.

The benefit, says Ms Kermode, is “more individual course enrolments, which is convenient for full-time employees, and more opportunity to gain formal qualifications. Many have been working in business administration for 30-odd years they finally have a qualification that confirms they know what they’re doing professionally.”

Students who complete the Diploma in Business Administration through Waiariki may also walk away with the national diploma which is embedded, earning two tertiary qualifications.

Studying online is well suited for those already working in business administration roles who wish to study part time, upgrade the skills they already have and gain new skills relevant to today’s business sector. Gaining the diploma quite often leads to more responsibility in their roles, higher positions and/or bigger pay cheques.

Ms Kermode has been involved in the business administration field all of her professional life. Her first role at age 15 was as a business administrator and she has been a tutor at Waiariki for nearly 13 years. She is very passionate about the role business administrators play.

“They are highly valuable,” she says. “Businesses actually wouldn’t be running if business administrators weren’t there. They are the glue that holds many businesses together.”

ENDS

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