Victoria University opens new premises in Auckland

The new Victoria University premises, located in Kitchener Street in downtown Auckland, will give Victoria a more visible presence in the city.

Victoria University has opened expanded premises in Auckland, providing a central city base to deal with growing demand for its courses.

The new premises, located in Kitchener Street in downtown Auckland, will give the Wellington-based university a more visible presence in the city says Vice-Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford.

"Victoria is growing and a significant portion of that growth is coming from Auckland.

"We have deep involvement with the Auckland community-currently 1,900 students from Auckland and more than 230 from Northland are enrolled at Victoria. The reason these numbers are growing steadily each year is that the University and Wellington City provide a holistic learning, teaching and student experience that is second to none.

"We also have more than 3,000 alumni in the Auckland area, many of whom want to connect with us," says Professor Guilford.

"Another key driver is demand from people working in Auckland who want to take advantage of our world-renowned expertise in areas such as advancing better government, enriching national culture and civil society, architecture and design-led innovation, digital futures and engineering, and enhancing the resilience and sustainability of our natural heritage," says Professor Guilford.

Currently, Victoria offers a Master's of Information Studies and a Master's of Information Management in Auckland and is looking to expand its programme offering to include courses from its School of Government.

The only one of its kind in New Zealand, Victoria's School of Government plays a key role in providing professional development for public and private sector leaders.

"Advancing better government is one of Victoria's areas of expertise and our capability in this area plays an important role in the development of public policy, in helping organisations to follow best practice in governance and in helping New Zealand to achieve its economic, environmental, social and cultural aspirations," says Professor Guilford.

"Victoria can apply its expertise to helping Auckland achieve some of its aspirational goals and resolve some of its well-documented issues."

A Victoria school liaison team is based at the University's expanded Auckland facility which also includes seminar rooms and spaces suitable for functions and events.

In addition, Professor Guilford says, the facility will be a venue for meetings between Victoria and its partners in business, government and community agencies.

"We are pleased to be expanding our horizons in the Auckland area.

"Victoria takes very seriously our role in contributing to the resolution of both national and global challenges and we are pleased to be supporting Auckland through our areas of academic emphasis."

Victoria University's new premises in Kitchener Street were officially opened yesterday evening (Thursday 16 April).