New Zealand Certificate in Study and Employment Pathways (Level 3)

About the programme

Whatever your background, this programme offers you the chance to improve your study skills and prepare for higher-level learning or employment.

You'll study the following courses - Personal and Study Skills, Communication Skills, Work Action and Work Preparation.

You will study in a highly supportive and encouraging learning environment. Class sizes are small and our teachers are very approachable. Along with improving your reading, writing, presenting, and computer skills, you will also gain valuable employability skills such as CV and interview preparation, and how to write a cover letter.

You’ll also do some work experience which is made up of offsite work experience, guest speakers, industry visits, group volunteering or practical workshops on campus. 

We also offer this programme with two other focuses: Health and Engineering. Please note that Youth Guarantee funding isn't available for the Health or Engineering focus.

16-24 years old?

If you are aged 16-24 and feel that school didn’t work out for you, you may be able to study this programme via our Youth Guarantee Scheme and pay no fees. This also applies if you are going to be 15 years old at the time that this programme starts and you have an early exemption from school. See more info in the Fees section below.

*Please note: This programme used to be called the New Zealand Certificate in Study and Career Preparation (Level 3). The name was recently updated but the programme content is the same.

Entry

Entry requirements

• Open entry
• As part of our application process, you will be required to attend an informal chat with one of our careers team in Student Success. This is to ensure that you are enrolling into the best programme for you and to inform you of the range of support services available to you through Otago Polytechnic.
• If English is not your first language, you must provide:
  • New Zealand University Entrance OR
  • Overall Academic IELTS 5.0 with no individual band score lower than 5.0 (achieved in one test completed in the last two years), OR
  • Acceptable alternative evidence of the required IELTS (see here for NZQA proficiency table and here for a list of recognised proficiency tests).

If you need to improve your English Language skills, we offer a wide range of English programmes.