In late July, news broke that Whitireia’s Te Auaha campus is shutting down at the end of 2025. The campus is home to the well-regarded Graduate Diploma in Publishing, Aotearoa New Zealand’s only accredited publishing qualification. The closure of the campus could spell the end of the diploma.
Many IPEd members have been students of the program over the last 30 years. While discussions continue between Whitireia and PANZ (the Publishers Association of New Zealand) about the future of the program, we asked members to reflect on their experiences with Whitireia.
Anna Thomson
Little did I know that when a colleague handed me the brochure for the Whitireia Diploma in Publishing, it was about to trigger a critical life change. That colleague has now been a client for the last 12 years, and I’ve been an academic/medical copy editor for 22.
My practical project for the year [at Whitireia] was the 2004 version of Psychopharmacology: a handbook for New Zealand health professionals. I had no science background; it was just that none of the other projects particularly appealed. On the back of that experience, I secured my first job, editing a book of medical conference abstracts, which meant I had to move to Auckland (well before the days of remote working!). Although I then got a permanent position with that company, they almost immediately closed down, and I was made redundant.
I then worked as a publication manager for Adis, a medical publisher, for 9 years until our whole team was made redundant after a buyout by Springer. At that point, I went out on my own and have been a freelance medical, academic and business editor for coming up 13 years, with a 2-year stint as the editorial and publications advisor for Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission tucked in.
After 22 years, I still love editing. I love the different challenges each piece presents, and I love the puzzle of how to polish it up to be its best self. Running my own business, Thomson Editing, has brought freedom and stress in equal measure, and I’m so grateful to the colleague who walked in and said, “Hey, you’d be good at this,” and handed me that brochure.
Juliet Dreaver
Discovering the Whitireia Publishing Diploma, after falling out of love with the career I’d been wedded to for 30 years, felt like a jigsaw piece clicking into position. That sense of having found the right place continually informed the year that followed – an exhilarating, fascinating and sometimes gruelling 2 semesters which changed my life.
As a class, with our varied experience and expertise, we genuinely supported one another as we developed an understanding of the publishing world and worked to master the arts of editing and InDesign, proofing and publicity; publishing real books with real price tags for real writers.
There were other puzzle-piece moments throughout the course. Discovering what you love, and what you’d prefer to outsource, thanks. Finding out which doors to knock on, and what to expect behind each of them.
The Whitireia publishing course, with its deep and “live” connection to the industry, delivered a combination of in-depth knowledge and hands-on practice, a broad view of the landscape and a map for navigating it. Perhaps the best resource of all, the course gave us connections: people to ask for directions. Colleagues, fellow students, industry people you’re not too scared to approach now because you know there will be a moment when you can say the magic words “Whitireia grad” and then, “click!”
Deborah Shaw AE
By my late-20s I needed a career change. I took a lot of career quizzes, and they eventually led me to the Whitireia publishing diploma. I wasn’t in a position to move to Wellington, so I applied for the online diploma.
While the course was delivered online, we did have a week of in-person sessions in Auckland. A designer (I can’t remember her name!) showed us the galley proofs of a book she had in production: Birds of New Zealand: a photographic guide. They were the most exciting sheets of paper I’d ever seen!
Of the 4 modules we worked through, editing appealed the most, and that’s what I’ve stuck with.The diploma showed me a whole new industry and allowed me to find my people. It gave me the confidence to start fresh and become an editor. It’s taken a while to build up my business, but it was the diploma that set me up and allowed me to get here.
Whitireia Graduate Diploma in Publishing update
As you may have heard, Whitireia is not planning to run their Graduate Diploma in Publishing next year. In good news, the Publishers Association of New Zealand is working on options for continuing the course – it is still the only accredited publishing qualification offered in Aotearoa. If you or someone you know is interested in entering the publishing industry, please do contact the tutors on publishing@whitireia.ac.nz.