Auckland University of Technology

Not to be confused with University of Auckland.

Auckland University of Technology

Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau
Type	Public
Established	2000 (lineage back to 1895)
Chancellor	John Maasland
Vice-Chancellor	Derek McCormack
Students	27,299 (2013)
Location	Auckland , New Zealand
Campus	Multiple
Affiliations	ASAIHL, AACSB, ACU
Website	www.aut.ac.nz

WF (Business) Building at AUT's Auckland City Campus.

The Auckland University of Technology (AUT) (Māori: Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand. It was formed on 1 January 2000 (1895 originally Auckland Technical School) when the Auckland Institute of Technology was granted university status. Its primary campus is on Wellesley Street in Auckland's Central business district (CBD). AUT has three secondary campuses: North Shore, South, and the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health (AUT Millennium Campus). For branding purposes, since 2010 the Auckland University of Technology refers to itself as AUT University.

AUT enrolled 27,299 students in 2013, including 3,101 international students from 85 different countries, and 1,735 postgraduate students. 87% of students were enrolled in a bachelor's degree or higher qualification. AUT’s student population is diverse with students having a range of ethnic backgrounds including New Zealand European, Asian, Maori and Pacific Islander. Students also represent a wide age demographic with 37% of students being over 25. AUT University employed 2,063 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2011, including both administrative and academic staff members.

AUT promotes itself as an advocate of innovative approaches to teaching, learning and research. In particular its focus is on providing a pragmatic 'real world' approach, ensuring excellence in learning, teaching and developing outstanding graduates for practice in their chosen fields. AUT's learning environment encourages interaction between students and with their lecturers. This approach aims to develop skills of high value to employers . The most recent data available suggests that 91% of AUT's graduates obtain employment or progress to further study within 6 months of graduating. In the 2014 QS World University Ranking, AUT was not listed in the Top 500.

History

AUT was originally founded as Auckland Technical School in 1895, offering evening classes only. Daytime classes began in 1906 and its name was changed to Auckland Technical College. In 1913 it was renamed Seddon Memorial Technical College. In the early 1960s educational reforms resulted in the separation of secondary and tertiary teaching; two educational establishments were formed; the tertiary (polytechnic) adopting the name Auckland Technical Institute (ATI) in 1963 and the secondary school continuing with the same name. For three years they co-existed on the same site, but by 1964 the secondary school had moved to a new site in Western Springs and eventually became Western Springs College. In 1989 ATI became Auckland Institute of Technology (AIT), and the current name was adopted when university status was granted in 2000.

The first chancellor of AUT was Sir Paul Reeves.

Campuses and facilities

AUT has four campuses: City (Auckland CBD), South, North Shore and Millennium. City and North Shore campuses both offer neighbouring student accommodation (498 rooms and 207 rooms, respectively). AUT runs a shuttle bus between campuses.

Since becoming a university, AUT has invested heavily in infrastructure, staffing and programmes. It is halfway through its $245 million building programme on both the Wellesley and North Shore campuses. Since 2000, new engineering, design, library, and business buildings have been constructed.

New WG Precinct at AUT University's City Campus

The most recent building project completion is the new $98 million WG precinct at Wellesley campus. Named after the former Chancellor of the university, the Sir Paul Reeves Building hosts the School of Communication Studies. The new building was officially opened by Prime Minister John Key on March the 22nd, 2013. The 12-storey Sir Paul Reeves Building provides an additional learning space of about 20,000 square metres that consists of spacious open convention spaces, modern and elaborate screen and television studios and a motion capture, sound and performance studios among other things.

City campus

The City campus spreads over several sites in the heart of central Auckland. The largest site is situated on Wellesley Street and is home to most of academic units and central administration, including the Vice-Chancellor's Office and research centres. The Faculties of Applied Humanities, Business and Law, Design and Creative Technologies, and Te Ara Poutama share this location.

Facilities of the campus include an early childhood centre, International Student Centre, printing centre, gym, Chinese Centre, Pasifika Student Support Service, Postgraduate Centre and Te Tari Āwhina Learning Development Centre. The Central Library holds over 245,000 books and journals on four floors. There are a number of cafes, restaurants and bars, including the student-owned Vesbar. Training restaurants Piko Restaurant and Four Seasons Restaurant have operated commercially since 2011. There is also a marae, the AUT Shop, St Paul St Art Gallery, a University Bookshop, and the Wellesley Student Apartments.

South campus

Entrance of AUT's Manukau Campus

AUT opened the South campus (formerly Manukau campus) in 2010, creating the first university campus based in the region. It offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, specialising in business, computer and information sciences, education, health sciences, as well as sports management and science. South campus hosts its own library, student lounges, student information centre, course information centre, computer labs, wireless network, and café. The campus also boasts astro turf courts with tennis, basketball, netball, volleyball, touch, and soccer equipment available for hire.

North Shore campus

The North Shore campus is located on Akoranga Drive in Northcote. The Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences (including the Sport and Recreation division) and School of Education share this campus, which has attractive park-like grounds. AUT's main sport and fitness centre is located at this campus, encompassing a gymnasium, weights room, testing equipment, golf swing clinic, and indoor courts. The campus also offers a library, student services centre, early childhood centre, AuSM branch, PrintSprint shop, health counselling and wellbeing centre, university bookshop, and food outlets, including Vesbar. In addition, the campus provides five health clinics (oral, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychotherapy, and ultrasound), which are open to the public. North Shore campus is closely linked with the nearby AUT Millennium Institute of Sport and Heath.

AUT Millennium campus

Like AUT's North Shore campus, the Millennium campus is located on Auckland's North Shore. The Millennium Campus provides world-class sports training, and hosts both national and local sports organisations, including Swimming New Zealand, New Zealand Water Polo, Northsport Olympic Weightlifting, and Sport and Recreation New Zealand. The focus of the facility is high performance athlete development and success. The campus has world-class training facilities, athlete accommodation, sports science laboratories, an aquatics facility, and a commercial gym.

Other facilities

AUT maintains a number of facilities off campus, including the AUT Radio Telescope, New Zealand's first radio telescope. The 12m telescope is located near Warkworth and is part of New Zealand and Australia's involvement in the international mega-science project, the Square Kilometre Array.

Faculties

AUT is divided into five faculties. These are:

• Culture and Society
• Business and Law
• Design and Creative Technologies
• Health and Environmental Sciences
• Te Ara Poutama

Pacific Media Centre

The Pacific Media Centre (PMC) is located within the School of Communication Studies. It was founded in 2007 to develop media and journalism research in New Zealand, particularly involving Māori, Pacific Islands, ethnic and vernacular media topics. It is recognised as a diversity project by the Human Rights Commission (New Zealand), and has been featured by the Panos London Media Development programme for its development communication work.

The centre publishes Asia-Pacific journalism, and has published Pacific Scoop since 2009. It also publishes media and communication studies books, like the 2009 book Communication, Culture and Society in Papua New Guinea: Yo Tok Wanem?, in collaboration with other publishers or overseas universities. The center was featured as a Creative Commons case study in 2010. Founding director David Robie, a New Zealand author, journalist and media academic, won a Vice Chancellor's Award in 2011 for excellence in university teaching.

Pacific Media Watch is PMC's daily independent Asia-Pacific media monitoring service and research project. The site was launched in Sydney in October 1996, and has links with the University of the South Pacific, the University of PNG (UPNG) and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ). Since moving to AUT in 2007, it has become a digital repository and received a grant from the Pacific Development and Conservation Trust in 2010 to "expand its educational and research role for the Pacific region". PMW has established a Pactok server archive,and added a D-Space archive in 2010. Representatives of Pacific Media Watch report on the region's news developments, provide advocacy for media freedom, and published a media freedom report on the South Pacific in 2011.

PMC has also published Pacific Journalism Review, a peer-reviewed research journal on media issues and communication in the South Pacific and Australia, since 2002. The journal was previously published at the University of Papua New Guinea from 1994 to 1999. The editorial policy focuses on the cultural politics of the media, including new media and social movements, the culture o indigenous peoples, the politics of tourism and development, the role of the media and the formation of national identity. It also covers environmental and development studies in the media and communication, and vernacular media in the region. In October 2010, PJR was awarded the "Creative Stimulus Award" for academic journals in the inaugural Academy Awards of the Global Creative Industries in Beijing, China. The journal has advocated free speech and freedom of information in the Asia-Pacific region.

Programmes

AUT offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate (both PhD and Master) degrees, as well as sub-degree qualifications such as diplomas and certificates. Programmes are offered in the areas/fields of applied sciences, art and design, business, business information systems, communication studies, computer and information sciences, education, engineering, health care practice, hospitality and tourism, languages, law, mathematical science, midwifery, nursing, occupational therapy, oral health, paramedicine and emergency management, Māori development, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, public health, rehabilitation and occupation studies, social science, and sport and recreation.

AUT's Business School was recently recognised as one of the top business schools in the world by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International.

Research

In 2010, AUT secured $18.5 million in research revenue, representing a 9% increase from 2009. Similarly, university research outputs increased by almost 25%. As a relatively new university, AUT came in eight place in the most recent (2006) Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) round, but has shown the greatest improvement in PBRF rating of New Zealand's eight universities.

AUT is investing heavily in research, and has recruited local and international researchers and experts to further its research profile. Research partnerships and exchanges have also been established with some of the world's leading universities. AUT's growing research profile has seen an increase in research programme enrolments and external funding, as well as research institutions.

New Zealand Tourism Research Institute

One AUT research institute, the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute (NZTRI), brings together local and international experts in tourism and hospitality. It was established in 1999 by Professor Simon Milne, and is located in the School of Hospitality and Tourism. In 2010 the Institute brought together 19 researchers as well as 15 PhD students currently studying within the Institute, several other graduate students being linked to the Institute in more informal ways.

NZTRI conducts a range of research projects around the world and has developed strong links with Huế University in Vietnam, Wageningen University in the Netherlands, University of Akureyri in Iceland, McGill University and York University in Canada among others. Its research programme areas include coastal and marine tourism, community development, cultural heritage tourism, event tourism, health and wellness tourism, hospitality research, indigenous tourism, Pacific Islands tourism, tourism marketing, and tourism technology. The Institute also has a team of research officers, international interns and other allied staff.

Other research institutions

AUT has 15 other research institutes:

• Biotechnology Research Institute (KODE Biotech)
• Creative Industries Research Institute (CIRI)
• Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute (EOS)
• Engineering Research and Innovation Cluster (ERIC)
• Health and Rehabilitation Research Institute (HRRI)
• Institute for Culture, Discourse and Communication (ICDC)
• Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research (IRASR)
• Institute of Biomedical Technologies (IBTec)
• Institute of Public Policy (IPP)
• Institute of Sport and Recreation Research
• Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Research Institute (KEDRI)
• National Institute for Public Health and Mental Health Research (NIPHMHR)
• National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences (NISAN)
• New Zealand Work and Labour Market Institute (NZWALMI)
• Te Ipukarea: National Māori Language Institute

Within these key research institutes exist a large number of research centres and units. The NIPHMHR administers the Pacific Islands Families Study.

Notable alumni

Main category: Auckland University of Technology alumni

Business and Law

• Stephen Tindall (Founder, The Warehouse)
• Jim Anderton (Politician)
• Peter Williams (alpine skier)

Media and Communications

• Carol Hirschfeld, (General manager production at Maori Television, Former anchor of 3 News, former executive producer of Campbell Live)
• Pippa Wetzell (Host of Fair Go, former host of Breakfast at TVNZ),
• Charlotte Glennie (Asia correspondent for ABC)
• Duncan Garner (Radio Live drive host, Former political editor at 3 News, TV3)
• Joel Defries (Former presenter of Blue Peter on BBC, Select Live on C4)
• Dominic Bowden (Presenter of X Factor New Zealand and former presenter of NZ Idol)

Technology

• Annette Presley (Founder & CEO, Slingshot ISP)
• Bruce McLaren (race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor)

Student union

Vesbar at AUT's Wellesley Campus.

AuSM (Auckland Student Movement) is the students' association at AUT. Every student attending a course run by AUT University is a member of AuSM, and its primary function is to promote and maintain the rights and welfare of students. It provides assignment binding, student diary, internet and printing top-ups, lost property, Student Job Search, discounted transport, cheap phone cards and movie tickets, wallplanner and food bank. The AuSM Liaison Team provide advice to students with academic grievances, grade appeals, harassment issues.

The AuSM Student Representative Council is composed of a President, a Vice President, and Māori Affairs, Pasifika, Diversity, International, Disability and Postgraduate Officers. There are Business and Law, Design and Creative Technologies, Health and Environmental Sciences, Culture and Society and Te Ara Poutama Faculty Representatives. There are also City Campus, North Shore Campus and South Campus Representatives. AuSM representatives sit on various committees, focus groups and boards to speak out on behalf of 24,000 AuSM members. Former presidents include Kizito Essuman (2012-2013), Veronica Ng Lam (2010-2011), Andre D'cruz (2009), and Jan Herman (2007-2008).

AuSM provides a weekly student magazine called Debate. The magazine is produced by a full-time editor and a team of student contributors. The magazine features news, views, cartoons, feature articles and columns. Debate was recognised by the Aotearoa Student Press Association Awards in 2005 "Best Small Publication" (Rebecca Williams, editor) and 2009 "Best Humourist" (Ryan Boyd, editor) and "Best Original Photography" (Clinton Cardozo, designer). AuSM also produces an annual student diary and wallplanner, and operates social media accounts.

AuSM supports more than 40 affiliated clubs, and organises a range of concerts, comedy shows, live DJs, dance parties, the annual Orientation Festival and other events. The association organises sporting events, including University Games, AUT Rugby Sevens, Snow Games, Tertiary Challenge and the annual AUT Blues Awards. AuSM sponsored the AUT Titans at the Australian University Games in 2009, winning gold in netball and touch rugby. The AuSM lodge is based in Tongariro National Park, accommodates up to 12 people and is available to AuSM members from $160 per night for up to 12 people. Campus venue Vesbar is owned and operated by AuSM for its students, and operates throughout the year.

External links

• Auckland University of Technology
• AUT Research Institutes
• AUT's Environmental Sciences online site, The Science Site
• New Zealand Tourism Research Institute
• Auckland Student Movement (AuSM) – AUT's Student Union
• Te Waha Nui (AUT Journalism newspaper/website)