EIT Celebrates Bumper Year for Graduates

EIT Celebrates Bumper Year for Graduates

EIT Hawke’s Bay is managing a record number of graduates by spreading its traditional capping ceremony over two days.

Just under 390 diplomas, bachelor and honours degrees, postgraduate diplomas and master degrees will be awarded by EIT Hawke’s Bay for 2013, up a massive 23 percent on 2012 – another record year. Some 30 percent of graduates are Maori – in line with the Hawke’s Bay campus’ student demographic but well above the region’s.

The proportion of younger people gaining degrees from EIT is increasing – 31 percent of the institute’s degree graduates are under 25, up from about 29 percent in 2012.

This year, Napier will be hosting the traditional graduation parade twice – on 20 and 21 March. At 4pm on Thursday, jubilant graduates from the Schools of Applied Science, Business, Computing, Tourism and Hospitality and CAD will march through the city streets.

And at 12.30pm on Friday, the downtown parade will comprise graduates from the School of Education and Social Sciences, ideaschool and Te Manga Maori joined by graduands from the Schools of Nursing and Health and Sport Science who will hold their trenchers in hand ahead of their capping at the afternoon ceremony.

As always, parading graduates and graduands will be accompanied by EIT council members, senior executive and academic staff.

In line with its super-sized graduation ceremony, EIT is also increasing the number of valedictorians from two to three. This year’s honoured achievers, Shiran Atira, Angela Beattie and Philip Shambrook, will represent fellow graduates in addressing the friends, family and academics filling Napier’s Municipal Theatre.

Guests speakers for the graduation ceremonies are sales, time management and negotiation coach/trainer David Todd, Radius Medical Solutions chief executive Adri Isbister and Taradale High School principal Stephen Hensman.

Spreading the graduation ceremony over two days is also allowing graduands to invite more guests to their capping.

This year will be the first graduation for those completing EIT’s recently-established Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology.

This year’s graduates will include mother and daughter Roni and Puhiwahine Nuku, each of whom will be capped with a Bachelor of Arts (Maori). Roni’s husband Mike Nuku, who graduated from EIT some years ago with a Bachelor of Arts Honours (Maori), will be joining them in a particularly special family celebration.

ENDS

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