Mayor Welcomes Opening of Albany Campus

The opening of Unitec's new campus at Albany will support the development of a skilled workforce in Auckland says Auckland Mayor Len Brown.

The new campus, located at Rothwell Avenue in Albany, will open its doors on 1 August. It will offer a number of certificate programmes including autotronic, automotive and mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, multiskill building construction, information technology, animal care and health care, business services, foundation learning and English languages programmes. In its first year of operation around 300 students are expected to study at the campus, with student numbers expected to rise to over 1,000 within a few years.

Previous studies have identified that there is a shortage of vocational educational provision in the North Shore and Rodney areas. Demand is likely to increase noticeably in the future as the population of Auckland north of the Harbour bridge is expected to grow from 329,000 now to reach 431,000 in twenty years time.

The Mayor says Albany has been identified as a focus for new business opportunities and as an education hub.

"My vision is for Auckland to become the world's most liveable city and integral to that is encouraging a highly skilled workforce, an environment where science, research, technology and ideas can flourish and transform into internationally recognised products and services that grow the Auckland economy."

"Developments like the new Unitec campus allow greater access to this sort of vocational training for Aucklanders and international students, and will help us achieve our goal of making Auckland an outward-looking global city with a competitive, prosperous economy," he says.

Long Bay College Principal Russell Brooke has welcomed the arrival of a vocationally oriented tertiary institution to the North Shore. "The new campus will broaden the post-school options of our students," he says.

Okura resident and former Long Bay College student Kyle Goodall is one of the first students to enrol at the new campus. After studying business studies at school last year and taking part in the Young Enterprise Challenge, Kyle has enrolled in the New Zealand Diploma in Business programme. He says he looked at studying business at lots of different institutions but found the "hands on," practical approach that Unitec offered appealed to him.

"It's really great for me to be able to study in Albany which is so close to home. If I was to travel across the bridge it would take me an hour to get there," Kyle says.

Unitec Chief Executive Rick Ede says that the opening of the new campus is exciting news for North Shore residents. "The new campus will make vocational education a real option for many North Shore residents who will no longer have to spend hours commuting across the harbour bridge."

"We are very pleased to be able to offer a range of programmes at our Albany campus which will provide North Shore residents with access to quality, practically orientated vocational education," he adds.

Unitec is New Zealand's largest Institute of Technology and currently has over 23,000 students enrolled at four campuses located at Mt Albert, Waitakere, Newmarket and Takapuna. The Takapuna campus will close following the opening of the Albany campus, with students and programmes at Takapuna transferring to the Albany location.

For information about the new campus visit www.northern.unitec.ac.nz. Open evenings are also being held for students on Wednesday 22 June from 3.30 - 6.30pm at 132 Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna and at Unitec's Mt Albert and Waitakere campuses. See www.infoevening.unitec.ac.nz for details.

ENDS

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