Caroline Seelig

Caroline Irena Seelig is a New Zealand academic administrator, and was chief executive of the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. She has contributed to vocational education and distance learning for more than thirty years. In 2024 Seelig was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education.

Career

Seelig completed a Master of Education at Massey University and a PhD titled Interaction between CA++ and Mg++ ions and tolerance to NaCl of agrostis stolonifera ecotypes at Swansea University.

Seelig has contributed to vocational education and distance learning in New Zealand for more than thirty years. She has held senior management roles at Tai Poutini Polytechnic, Eastern Institute of Technology, and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. Seelig led the introduction of the iQualify online learning platform, and grew the Open Polytechnic to be the largest polytechnic in the country, teaching more than 35,000 students each year. Honours and awards In 2004 Seelig was awarded a Woolf Fisher Fellowship.

Selected publications