More complaints against Waiariki | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua
More complaints against Waiariki
Gary Dender
By ABIGAIL CASPARI in Rotorua
Waiariki Institute of Technology has been hit by further claims of problems with one of its courses.
A group of students sitting the 20-week Certificate in Healthcare Assistants course has lodged a formal complaint about the quality of their course.
The students claim they have not had a tutor on many occasions, and are missing out on parts of their course.
Their tutor has backed up their claims, saying she resigned because of a "complete lack of support".
The claims come just a week after Waiariki reached a compromise with students who complained about a course for enrolled nurses.
Waiariki acknowledged errors were made in setting up the nursing programme, and resolved the problems with students last week.
One of 10 students sitting the healthcare assistants course told The Daily Post the students had given a letter to Waiariki's complaints officer this week and had asked for a response by Monday.
The course began in July.
According to the student, who did not want to be identified, after about a month their main tutor went on stress leave for three weeks, leaving them with no regular tutor.
The tutor, who was responsible for teaching the majority of the course, then resigned and was not replaced for about three weeks.
The course cost $1200 and the woman said she felt as if she had spent a month teaching herself.
The poor quality of the course had also left her fearing she would not be competent enough in the workplace.
She admitted she had been spoken to by staff about her own lack of attendance but she attributed part of that to not knowing whether a tutor would be turning up to class.
Another student, Donna Thoresen, travels from Te Teko every day for the course.
Miss Thoresen said she had resorted to texting her classmates to find out if there was a tutor, otherwise it was not worthwhile making the trip.
She also claimed there was confusion over whether she would be able to qualify for another course. In the end, she had been offered a place on another course, but had turned it down.
Miss Thoresen said students were not seeking any financial compensation, but wanted to ensure the problems were sorted out.
"Our main thing is that next year's course doesn't have the same hassles that we have had. We want Waiariki to acknowledge that we have run most of this course ourselves."
The tutor, who did not want to be named, told The Daily Post she went on stress leave and then resigned because of the "complete lack of support".
"I was a total mess ... I certainly wasn't given the support and I found the situation intolerable and the students unfortunately were lost in between".
She said she had made every attempt to get the students "up to speed" while she was there and "absolutely" supported their complaint about how they had been treated in her absence.
Waiariki's academic director Gary Dender said he received the students' complaint yesterday.
Mr Dender said he planned to meet with the students before the end of this week and hoped to have the matter resolved by Monday.
He declined to comment on the students' claims, saying it was a private matter between management and the students, and would be dealt with internally. He also declined to comment on the tutor's claims, saying it was a private employment matter.
Waiariki Institute of Technology has been hit by further claims of problems with one of its courses.
A group of students sitting the 20-week Certificate in Healthcare Assistants course has lodged a formal complaint about the quality of their course.
The students claim they have not had a tutor on many occasions, and are missing out on parts of their course.
Their tutor has backed up their claims, saying she resigned because of a "complete lack of support".
The claims come just a week after Waiariki reached a compromise with students who complained about a course for enrolled nurses.
Waiariki acknowledged errors were made in setting up the nursing programme, and resolved the problems with students last week.
One of 10 students sitting the healthcare assistants course told The Daily Post the students had given a letter to Waiariki's complaints officer this week and had asked for a response by Monday.
The course began in July.
According to the student, who did not want to be identified, after about a month their main tutor went on stress leave for three weeks, leaving them with no regular tutor.
The tutor, who was responsible for teaching the majority of the course, then resigned and was not replaced for about three weeks.
The course cost $1200 and the woman said she felt as if she had spent a month teaching herself.
The poor quality of the course had also left her fearing she would not be competent enough in the workplace.
She admitted she had been spoken to by staff about her own lack of attendance but she attributed part of that to not knowing whether a tutor would be turning up to class.
Another student, Donna Thoresen, travels from Te Teko every day for the course.
Miss Thoresen said she had resorted to texting her classmates to find out if there was a tutor, otherwise it was not worthwhile making the trip.
She also claimed there was confusion over whether she would be able to qualify for another course. In the end, she had been offered a place on another course, but had turned it down.
Miss Thoresen said students were not seeking any financial compensation, but wanted to ensure the problems were sorted out.
"Our main thing is that next year's course doesn't have the same hassles that we have had. We want Waiariki to acknowledge that we have run most of this course ourselves."
The tutor, who did not want to be named, told The Daily Post she went on stress leave and then resigned because of the "complete lack of support".
"I was a total mess ... I certainly wasn't given the support and I found the situation intolerable and the students unfortunately were lost in between".
She said she had made every attempt to get the students "up to speed" while she was there and "absolutely" supported their complaint about how they had been treated in her absence.
Waiariki's academic director Gary Dender said he received the students' complaint yesterday.
Mr Dender said he planned to meet with the students before the end of this week and hoped to have the matter resolved by Monday.
He declined to comment on the students' claims, saying it was a private matter between management and the students, and would be dealt with internally. He also declined to comment on the tutor's claims, saying it was a private employment matter.
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