Vaughan Elder

OPSA president Rebecca Swindells talks to reporter Vaughan Elder about what O-Week means for polytechnic students.

Dunedin businesses have received a boost from large numbers of students' parents visiting the city, but a city restaurant owner says more should be done to attract them at other times of the year.

A good dose of ''hard work, dedication and Mi Goreng noodles'' will get Francisco Hernandez through what will be his first O-Week as Otago University Students' Association president.

An asteroid predicted to swing close by Earth tomorrow morning does not pose any threat, Dunedin Astronomical Society president Peter Jaquiery says. The asteroid, about half the size of a rugby field, will whizz past about 27,700km above Earth about 8.24am New Zealand time in what Nasa is calling a one-in-40-year event.

The annual migration of students has begun, with the influx of young people providing a boost for Dunedin businesses.

Students will be able to party until midnight at Forsyth Barr Stadium this Orientation Week after the Dunedin City Council agreed to change an earlier decision restricting events to an 11.30pm finish.

After almost a decade in the job of dean of the Dunedin School of Medicine, Dr John Adams is taking on a new role at the school.

Research into the power of a devastating tsunami in Japan in 2011 shows that an earthquake off the coast of New Zealand could produce a larger tsunami than previously thought, a University of Otago scientist says.

The Otago University Students' Association would think twice about holding Orientation Week events at Forsyth Barr Stadium if the Dunedin City Council sticks with an 11.30pm cut-off time.

The economic downturn is still making life difficult for students looking for summer holiday work and more than twice as many are on student hardship benefits than four years ago.

The extended spell of hot weather in Dunedin over the past couple of weeks has played havoc with the seal on a few of the city's roads.

After a decade with the Dunedin City Council's economic development unit, Peter Harris' new focus is on ensuring Otago Polytechnic thrives amid new trends in learning. Mr Harris left his position as manager of the council unit last year to take on the role of ''innovation facilitator'' at the polytechnic, which included holding the purse strings for part of a $1 million ''innovation fund''.

A University of Otago study has highlighted the benefits of children getting after-school work, but is calling for an improvement when it comes to their work conditions.

A descendant of William Larnach had long dreamed she would be proposed to at Dunedin's Larnach Castle, but until Saturday thought it would never actually happen.