Auckland women’s prison to trial tertiary business skills course

Waikato University is working with New Zealand’s largest women’s prison to provide an online first-year course that teaches business skills to inmates.

The tertiary level course, called The Entrepreneur, is being taken by 18 women at Auckland Region Women’s Prison in South Auckland. It is coordinated by Gina Millar, a Waikato teaching fellow specializing in digital commerce.

The university was approached by Annah Stretton, founder of the charity RAW, which works with women serving long-term or multiple prison sentences. The acronym stands for Reclaim Another Woman, and the organisation helps prisoners to break the cycle of repeat offending though education and training opportunities.