Commissioner Murray Strong, Interim Chief Executive Merran Davis and Executive Director Finance Ali Sargison.
Our staff mid-year event Tū Arotake ∙ Checkpoint, was an opportunity for our staff to hear from Murray Strong, Merran Davis and Glenn Mckay as they reflected on and celebrated the progress we’ve made in the past six months, and shared plans for our direction and focus the next few years.
Murray gave a recap of his time here which will soon tick over the 12-month mark and shared the good news that he has accepted the role of our Commissioner for another year. He was feeling positive about Unitec’s achievements in a short space of time and said the letters he’s received from the Education Minister show the government is also impressed with our progress and renewed focus on academic and financial performance.
Merran shared our draft Renewal Strategy: Manaakitia te Rito, 2019 – 2022. She talked about how Unitec’s Purpose and Strategic Priorities put students and communities at the heart of what we do, with our foundation being a commitment to Te Noho Kotahitanga. You can find more detail on the Strategy in Merran’s blog and in her presentation. Staff at the event were given the opportunity to give feedback on the draft Strategy and ask questions of the ELT. For anyone who was unable to attend, or who wishes to engage further, please use our feedback form online. The form will be open until 5.00pm, Friday 2 August 2019.
Provide your feedback on the draft Renewal Strategy here»
In Glenn’s presentation, he gave an overview of the current situation of our priority groups and shared our commitment to improve their success rates, particularly for our Māori and Pacific students. Unitec has committed to achieving parity for those students by 2022.
The priority group panel session: Steve Marshall – Quality Partnering Lead in TKK , Tracey Chapman – Director International Success, Toni Rewiri – Director Māori Success, Anaru Parangi – Team Leader Secondary Schools and Community Engagement, Falaniko Tominiko – Director Pacific Success.
We also had an insight to the work of our priority group success teams, with an on-the-couch interview with Toni Rewiri – Director Māori Success, Falaniko Tominiko – Director Pacific Success, Tracey Chapman – Director International Success and Anaru Parangi – Team Leader Secondary Schools and Community Engagement. A common theme in the panel session was the uniqueness of all students and the need to understand their background to provide the specific support they need. Our Student Success teams are here to support academic staff with this approach.
MC for the event, Steve Marshall – Quality Partnering Lead in Te Korowai Kahurangi, did a superb job of pulling all of the sessions together during the fast-paced, informative event.
Thanks to all of our presenters and to everyone who attended to hear this valuable information and give input into our direction over the coming years.
