EIT graduates are celebrating their graduation on April 11 and 12, parading through central Napier in traditional academic gowns, satin-lined hoods, korowai and tasselled trenchers.
Graduation marks the awarding of diploma, degree and postgraduate qualifications completed last year. Graduation will once again be staged in three ceremonies over two days in Napier’s Municipal Theatre.
EIT, including the three campuses in Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti and Auckland, continues to achieve strongly in awarding qualifications, 3,604 for 2018 – 275 more compared to 2017. Of these, 931 were diploma or higher (2017: 896), with a further 2,673 certificates awarded at ceremonies held at the end of last year (2017: 2,433).
Notable is the growing number of Māori completing qualifications across EIT’s various schools. For the 2018 year, 46 percent of EIT graduates were Māori (2017: 44 percent).
EIT’s student body is characterised by its diversity – 13 percent of those gaining qualifications last year were international students (2017: 12 percent).
As another significant trend for the institute, EIT’s student body is getting younger, with 41 percent aged under 25. 62 percent of this year’s degree graduates were under 25 (2017: 45 percent).
CEO Chris Collins notes that the biggest numbers of graduates in EIT’s history reflects the growth in student numbers. In 2018 there were 10,325 students studying at EIT, 1,000 more than in 2017.
This year’s guest speakers at the ceremony are Edmond Otis, David Tipene-Leach and Kay Morris Matthews. Edmond Otis as a senior lecturer in the School of Health and Sport Science in 2008. He came to EIT from the University of California. Edmond is a licensed psychotherapist and one of the three most senior Shotokan Karate instructors in Australasia.
David Tipene-Leach is Professor of Māori and Indigenous Research at EIT. David’s employment history includes general practice, public health and academic medicine and research. He has been active in the development of Māori primary health care over the years and has managed innovative public health projects and research in the prevention of sudden infant death.
Professor Kay Morris Matthews is Research Professor, Education, Humanities and Health Science, at the Eastern Institute of Technology. During her career she has held academic positions at the University of Waikato, The University of Auckland and at Victoria University of Wellington, where she was Professor of Education.
The valedictorians who will deliver speeches on behalf of their fellow graduates are Samantha Down receiving her Bachelor of Computing Systems, Poppy Savage who will receive her Bachelor of Teaching – Early Childhood Education and Samantha Little who will graduate with a Bachelor of Nursing.