Wairarapa's Ucol campus will kick off the first semester of 2009 with many programmes full to bursting.
Angela Hewitt, manager of the Masterton campus, said there had been "strong community interest" in tertiary study for the year, after an open day last month that attracted 400 people.
"Many of our programmes have
attracted a large number of enrolments this year," she said.
So far, nearly 300 students have enrolled at the campus, with more coming in each day.
"All of our trades programmes have increased in enrolments and the nursing and mental health support work programmes are full, with waiting lists.
"Our new exercise and sports performance certificate, which started this week, has proved very popular.
"Not only is our nursing programme full but we have added another five places to meet student demand and help with the shortage of nurses in the community," she said.
Within trades, Ms Hewitt said numbers were up to around 60 from 43 at the same time last year.
Within that, the number of students enrolled in automotive were up to 34 from 24 last year and carpentry was up to 13 students from nine last year, while hairdressing and beauty programme numbers were also up from around 25 to 32.
She said the upped numbers were in line with figures just published by the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand, showing increased enrolments across the country, particularly in trades and nursing.
"If places are still available, students can enrol up to two weeks into the start date of a programme, but the sooner a student is in class, the easier it is for them to catch up."
One of the new courses to run at Ucol Wairarapa is the Certificate in Exercise and Sport Performance, which has also been running successfully at Ucol in Palmerston North and Wanganui.
"The sport and fitness industry in all three centres is crying out for qualified staff," Ucol's human performance programme leader Dean Rankin said.
"A lot of gyms and other organisations are finding it hard to recruit the staff they need. This means there is a national demand for these graduates to help fill the shortage."
