By Susan Murray of RNZ New Zealand, once lauded as living off the sheep ’s back, known for producing wool carpets and more recently high-end Merino products like Icebreaker and Smartwool has dropped the ball when it comes to wool education, according to many in the sector. Tertiary wool papers once offered by Massey and Lincoln universities are no more, and the only two tutors teaching wool at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) are about to leave - one is retiring after more than 40 years, and the other is leaving for another role. SIT said while it would replace them, at this stage, it was up in the air as to whether semester two of its Certificate in Wool Technology and Classing would go ahead.

The lack of tertiary education is a huge concern for the sector. G Schneider NZ wool-buyer and exporter Helen Cameron said the lack of knowledge coming through the sector was significant. It beggared belief that New Zealand’s tertiary sector would let wool education and wool classing flounder because classing wool and the quality standards it guarantees was vital for the country’s international reputation, she said.

“We need to ensure that there is a process where we are having younger people coming through so that within the time period they can be taught by those people with plenty of experience because it is very much a hands-on job (as well as tertiary study), being taught by those actually doing it is important,” she said. “And farmers are the ones that will .