Yoobee Colleges is a tertiary education company in New Zealand. It was founded in 1994. The company was formed in its present form in 2019 after the merger of South Seas Film & Television School, Animation College, Yoobee School of Design, AMES – The Institute of IT, and Design & Arts (Canterbury).
In addition to providers operating under the Yoobee branding, the company also operates the New Zealand School of Tourism, the Healthcare Academy of New Zealand, Cut Above Academy, and Elite School of Beauty and Spa. Yoobee is New Zealand’s largest specialized creative and IT provider offering a range of programs in Animation and game development, cybersecurity and IT, Graphic and web design, marketing and film and TV production.
History
Natcoll Design Technology was founded in 1994. In 2007, Natcoll Design Technology was purchased by Renaissance, a New Zealand corporation which operated a number of lines of business under the "YOOBEE" branding. The school was renamed Yoobee at Natcoll Design School as part of a transition to become the Yoobee School of Design.
The renaming was complete in 2012. In the early 2000s, Yoobee Colleges' parent Renaissance experienced difficulties as changes in business strategy by Apple affected their core retail business.
In 2014, Renaissance shareholders voted to sell Youbee School of Design to
Academic Colleges Group
ACG Schools (formerly known as ACG Education) is a New Zealand–based private education company that operates schools and preschools in New Zealand and Asia. Incorporated as a New Zealand Limited Liability Company in 1994 it established its f ...
for $13.3 million, with an additional potential earn-out of up to $1 million. Due to low profit, the additional earn out was not realized.
In 2011, the Natcoll Design Technology campus in Christchurch was damaged by an earthquake with students transferring to campuses in Auckland and Wellington.
It has collaborated on jointly offered course offerings with the
Whitehouse Institute of Design
The Whitehouse Institute of Design, Australia (commonly known as Whitehouse) is a private Design Institute with campuses in the Melbourne central business district, Surry Hills (Sydney) and Kangaroo Point (Brisbane). It was established in 1988 b ...
in Australia.
In 2018, the Yoobee School of Design moved back into a campus in central Christchurch marking its return to the city after the 2011 and sharing facilities with the
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...
. In 2019, Yoobee Colleges was created by the merger of South Seas Film and Television School, Animation College, Design and Arts (Canterbury), AMES – The Institute of IT, and the Yoobee School of Design under the unified brand forming New Zealand’s largest specialised creative and information technology provider.
Also in 2019, its parent company was spun out of ACG as UP Education.
As of 2023, a $2 million facility at the Healthcare Academy of New Zealand, owned by Yoobee Colleges, has been unused as the school worked towards accreditation of its nursing program.
Graduates from the college includes two of the creators of the TV series
''Bluey''.
Schools and campuses
Yoobee has campuses in four physical locations in three major cities in New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Yoobee also offers online courses and blended campus offerings.
References
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Vocational education in New Zealand