Satellite programmes: barriers and enablers for student success

Satellite campuses in outlying towns and regions are intended to serve students who cannot travel for higher education qualifications and who do not see themselves as suited to online programmes. The profile of a satellite student is diverse across several domains, including age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and learning capabilities and experiences. While this could also be said of students on the main campus, satellite students face additional barriers on their way to success and completion, identified in this report as barriers and challenges related to accessibility, affordability and accountability. This project sought to examine the experiences of students in the Health Care Assistance (HCA) programme at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (BoPP), given the consistently high levels of completion and satisfaction with the programme. The focus was on identifying the actual and potential issues that both providers and students face, and successful strategies for responding to these challenges. A second aim was to provide a set of guidelines that could be used to assist the development of further satellite programmes by BoPP of other institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) and private training establishments (PTEs) that serve multiple communities. This report aims to provide insight into the benefits to students within communities without extensive provider networks for tertiary specialist programmes, and limited availability of technological resources to assist teaching and learning. A mixed method approach was adopted, which generated insights and data from four sources: a literature review, institutional records, focus groups, and individual interviews.

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