Unitec Institute of Technology

About Us

Unitec is New Zealand’s largest institute of technology, with more than 20,000 students studying over 150 work-oriented programmes. We offer leading employment-focused education at our two campuses in Mt. Albert, and Waitākere.

Learning and teaching

Learning and teaching are at the heart of our transformation.

Learning and teaching is our core business, and we’re committed to doing it better so our graduates get better jobs, better careers and better lives.

How are we changing?

Over the last few years, many of our teachers have been drawing on new teaching methods that include more work-based learning, new technologies, and different styles of working with students.

We call this the Living Curriculum.

These approaches are all designed to make our graduates more employable.

Now our focus is on applying these new approaches to every programme at Unitec so that every student can be sure their Unitec education genuinely prepares them for their chosen career.

Over the next three years (2015- 2017) every programme is being reviewed and remodelled to have components of work-based learning, online learning, face-to-face learning and independent/group work.

How are our teachers changing?

We are investing heavily in professional development so our teachers are able to make the most of the new technologies and the face-to-face time they have with students.

Dean of Teaching and Learning Linda Keesing-Styles says:

“We are asking teachers to confront their current approaches to learning and teaching and to stretch their practice into new approaches that are aligned with contemporary trends. This includes highly student-centered practices, the utilisation of significant components of web-based learning and employing new practices such as gamification and maker spaces.”

How are we preparing our graduates for work?

We're closing the gap between education and industry.

We know from our research that employers in New Zealand want our students to have more work-integrated learning opportunities while they study, so they have access to a pool of highly capable and work-ready graduates.

We're moving to higher levels of practical work-integrated learning in all of our programmes. To achieve this we're seeking more and deeper relationships with industry partners. We want to make it easier and more beneficial for businesses and other organisations to work with us so we can connect them with our curriculum, our staff and our students – and ultimately deliver them and their industries great graduates to employ.

How are we changing our spaces?

Another factor in developing experienced, work-ready graduates is making sure they have the right spaces to learn in with the best technology available to support them.

We’ve developed a prototype learning space at our Mt. Albert campus which allows students and teaching staff to experience innovative new approaches to learning and teaching with the best new educational technologies and facilities. The new space encourages students to collaborate, share ideas, work together with students from other programmes, and learn valuable soft skills like teamwork.

We are collecting user feedback and usage data in this space and use it to improve learning and teaching environments and designs for new spaces.

See below for a video of our teachers learning in our new prototype learning and teaching space:

Read more about our teaching revolution