Ara Institute of Canterbury

Ara Institute of Canterbury is a vibrant, progressive, government-funded tertiary institute providing world-class, tertiary-level education throughout the Canterbury and Waitaki region. Ara was created in 2016 when education providers CPIT and Aoraki Polytechnic merged, bringing together two well-established organisations and over 200 years of collective experience and success.

Ara’s talented staff, innovative business collaborators and supportive community partners are passionate about the role they play in the students’ success. Together, they are committed to equipping every student with the industry-relevant knowledge, skills and experience they need to get the job they want and to excel in it.

The learning models and course content continually evolve to respond to industry and regional needs. To ensure the students have real-world experience, ARA offers an ever-expanding array of workplace training opportunities, internships, apprenticeships and partnerships with industry. And to meet demand for flexible study options, ARA offers an increasing range of online, blended delivery and part time programmes.

These measures, combined with a low student-to-tutor ratio and comprehensive support services, ensure the students thrive in an inclusive, nurturing, flexible and technology-enhanced study environment where meaningful learning experiences are the norm.

And it means that when they head out into the world, graduates are work-ready and equipped with internationally-relevant qualifications, valuable industry connections and skills that will enable them to contribute to a fast-changing world.

Each year around 19,000 students enrol at Ara, including many international students. Ara is internationally-recognised and is one of the best English language training centres in New Zealand. Over 50 countries are represented among staff and students at Ara.

Ara has five campuses throughout the Canterbury region (two in Christchurch and one each in Ashburton, Timaru and Oamaru), making it the largest tertiary institute in the South Island. Owned by the New Zealand government, Ara is regarded as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the country and has a Category 1 rating.