More than two hundred ākonga attended the Unitec Volunteer Expo on 12 August.
Ten community organisations attended this year’s Expo at the Events Kitchen in Te Puna. Of the 221 ākonga in attendance, 161 (73%) were international learners.
“We’re committed to providing opportunities for ākonga to connect directly with industry through on-campus events, and volunteering is one of the many ways that students and graduates can boost employability – particularly in the current challenging job market,” says Senior Industry Partner, Shani Sauerman.
The Expo connects learners and recent graduates with a range of volunteer opportunities that allow them to gain valuable skills and experience while making a difference to their communities.
“It was fantastic to see so many making the most of this opportunity and contributing to a lively event. Ākonga arrived well prepared to build meaningful connections, and our volunteer organisation guests were delighted to have large volumes of sign-ups,” Ms Sauerman adds.
There was excellent feedback from the community organisations that exhibited at the Expo.
“We really appreciate the organisation that has gone into preparing this event, which made it a whole lot easier for all to participate. We hope it was very worthwhile for the students attending and will happily attend again in future. Thank you for all your efforts in creating a wonderfully prepared event,” says Volunteering Auckland.
“This was an extremely professional set up, we were delighted to be part of the event. We got a huge list of names to follow up. Thanks so much for having us,” says Radio Lollipop.
Ms Sauerman thanked the exhibiting volunteer organisations for supporting this year’s event.
These were Camp Quality NZ, Canteen Aotearoa, Hospice West Auckland, IHC New Zealand, Radio Lollipop, Recreate NZ, Royal New Zealand Plunket Trust, Special Olympics NZ, Te Pa, and Volunteering Auckland.
She also acknowledged the mahi of all the Unitec teams that came together to make this event a great success: Unitec Industry Partnerships team, Events Team and International Student Support team.
