Unitec turns an important corner

Media Release
17 December 2009

Unitec turns an important corner

Unitec Institute of Technology, the country’s largest polytechnic, has turned an important corner and is poised to produce excellent educational and financial outcomes for the 2009 year, Chief Executive Dr. Rick Ede said today.

“Over the last year the new Unitec leadership team, together with staff, has focused efforts on a substantial change programme designed to deliver enduring financial sustainability to the institution by containing immediate costs and demanding better value for money from expenditure, and these efforts are now bearing fruit,” Rick Ede said.

“This markedly improved financial resilience will contribute to ensuring that Unitec continues to build on its tradition of delivering high quality educational performance outcomes for students, employers and taxpayers. Unitec’s course completions, a key measure of educational performance are at the top end of the polytechnic sector, and are comparable with universities. Our graduate destinations survey shows that almost 90 per cent of our graduates who went into employment gained a job for which their qualification was relevant.”

“Although the year-end financial result is not finalised, we are looking at a surplus of over $5 million for 2009 after a number of years of financial deficits, and I’m proud of the dedicated work of the new leadership team and all Unitec staff that has gone into delivering this significant turn-around.”

“Beyond our own efforts toward lifting financial and educational performance, we are gearing up for the government’s changes to polytechnic governance arrangements which take effect next year, that will further improve capability and effectiveness at Council level and allow us to respond even better to the changing business and educational environment.”

“Part and parcel of Unitec’s strategy is building a user-centred curriculum which entails working closely with students, the community and business so that our graduates are able to hit the ground running from day one.”

“With the current tight labour market conditions, it is more important than ever that our graduates are sought after by employers. By continually focussing our courses on meeting student aspirations, together with community and business skill needs, and the needs of the economy as the country moves out of recession into growth, we are even better connecting vocational and applied professional tertiary education outcomes with the realities of the market place.”

“Enrolments for 2010 are already up on this year, and we are set to produce a good result next year, and equally importantly, a group of graduates well prepared to realise their own personal and career ambitions as well as meeting the skill and educational needs of employers and the economy,” Rick Ede said.

Rick Ede said that surplus funds will be devoted to improving facilities for students to improve educational outcomes and enhance the student learning experience, and to further developing staff capabilities in blending online and face-to-face learning environments.

Unitec Institute of Technology educates over 24,000 students from more than 80 countries with a comprehensive portfolio of programmes from certificates and diplomas through to degrees and doctorates, across a wide range of professional and vocational areas, and operates three campuses across Auckland located at Mt. Albert, Waitakere and North Shore.

The diverse cultural and ethnic mix on campus includes school leavers, professionals studying to further their careers, international students, people training for jobs in industry and the trades, second-chance and adult students undertaking tertiary education for the first time, graduates returning to gain postgraduate qualifications, and people looking for a change of career.

ENDS

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