Engineering Lecturer, Terri-Ann Berry, leads the class
Our Unitec Pathways College’s focus is on managing and growing our engagement with secondary schools, and improving education and employment outcomes for students. They do this through their learning and teaching programmes that are designed to get students on campus earlier. They also work closely with schools to address barriers to formal study and provide professional development for their teaching staff.
There’s a direct focus too on initiatives for priority groups, including Māori and Pacific. This focus has recently included –
Tech Week 2018 – a first for Unitec. UPC’s Tech Week event saw 35 young people from two Kura Kaupapa come to Mt Albert campus for Healthy Air, Healthy Children It was a big success for the students who built monitors to test and measure air quality, and for the teaching and support team who created a fun and challenging environment, says UPC Manager Andrea Thumath.
Plans are underway for follow up workshops with each Kura, which will also cover finishing the sensors build so the students can monitor and retrieve data to use for research.
A big thank you to the UPC team and the Engineering and Computer Science Pathways, with support from the High-Technology Transdisciplinary Research Network, for making this happen.
Computer Science Lecturer Dila Beisembayeva, was one of several team members on hand to provide support with the monitor build
More pics and info on Yammer>>
Coming up is the return of two key student recruitment programmes Kei a Tatou Te Ihi (KATTI) and Pacific Island Leaders of Tomorrow (PILOT), leadership and development programmes for years 10-13, focused on changing how students think about tertiary career options.
The UPC team will be collaborating with the other programmes leaders and members to develop and deliver workshops for young people throughout the year. The workshops will challenge participants on their thought process when considering career and study choices. They’ll also hear from current tertiary students and those who have graduated who will share their success stories, as well as the barriers they faced and how they got through them.
Andrea says the UPC team is really happy to be back actively involved in these two vital community engagement initiatives and would like to thank
Tumu Tauwhirowhiro Māori Glenn McKay and our Director of Pacific Success Falaniko Tominiko, and their teams, for their support.
We’ll be sharing more with you next week on what else is underway with the UPC team.