Staying ahead of innovation

Chris Collins

Eastern Institute of Technology is celebrating its 40th birthday with a series of events that began on Thursday and ended today with an open day. Last year EIT had 10,000 students on its books, with about 400 of them international. It offers more than 130 qualifications, from certificate and diploma to degree and post-graduate level, and also runs a string of regional learning centres. Linda Hall asked Chief Executive of EIT, Chris Collins, five questions:

1.What plans do you have for the next 40 years?

Our key drivers will be the same - to provide as wide a range of high-quality academic, applied and professional higher education programmes, so people don't have to leave Hawke's Bay to get qualifications and skills they need to succeed. EIT must be responsive to the needs of our industries, businesses, social service agencies and key communities such as iwi.

We'll continue to develop our campuses - we've invested nearly $60 million into HB over the last 10 years creating a "world class" institute of technology campus. Future investment will increasingly be in the digital and electronic space. With strategic partners, we are nearing final development of leading-edge E-learning capabilities so people will be able to access key programmes from anywhere at any time. Geography will become less important. The future of education will involve a much greater blending and mix of face-to-face, electronic delivery and support approaches. We're investing heavily in those spaces.

But bricks and mortar and face-to-face will still have an important place - we're starting work on new veterinary nursing facilities to offer new Vet Nursing qualifications in 2016.

Another key strategy will be the growth of international education - last year we had more than 700 students from around the world coming from 38 countries to study at EIT. We've opened an EIT Auckland International Graduate School Campus - yes there is EIT Auckland right on Queen St. The goal is to entice more international students to Hawke's Bay - it's cheaper and a better place to live, we just have to entice them from Auckland.

2.What benefits do you think EIT brings to Hawke's Bay?

We spend more than $60 million each year in our region and employ more than 700 staff. Hundreds of international students come to study at EIT Hawke's Bay. We deliver quality education programmes into our key cities, as well as reach into remote and rural communities with quality programmes to raise skill and qualification levels. Our goal is to help people advance their life opportunities, support businesses and their skill needs, alongside the needs of the wider community. Why? So that Hawke's Bay will thrive and be a great place to live and bring up whanau.

3.If you were trying to talk a young person into further education what would you say?

You're entering a different world than your parents did - much more dynamic with rapid speeds of change. Qualifications and skillsets are going to matter more than in the past as you increasingly compete for jobs in a global marketplace. The world is up-skilling fast. You're going to have to keep up-skilling and you will probably retrain more than once.

So go for quality qualifications that stand up anywhere in the world. But remember, while the qualifications might open doors, it's your attitude, mindset and interpersonal skills, along with your qualification, that will really enable you to go places!

4.What's the most popular degree for men and women?

People often don't realise more students are enrolled in degree programmes than in any other qualification level at EIT.

That's unusual for an institute of technology. It's one reason we invest strongly in building EIT's research capability to underpin our higher education programmes. In 2015, the most popular degree for women was the Bachelor of Nursing and for men it was the Bachelor of Computing Systems.

5.What has made this tertiary institute so successful?

The energy, commitment and vision of a long line of people across more than 40 years. The vision that Hawke's Bay should have world-class tertiary education provision has been the key driver. EIT is the envy of many other institutes of technology and regions around New Zealand - so we can be very proud what has been achieved and what we have here today at EIT.