A concept image of the university's planned Innovation Sciences Complex, with construction expected to begin this year.
A concept image of the university's planned Innovation Sciences Complex, with construction expected to begin this year.
Plan for expansion at Albany will follow collaborative ideals of Silicon Valley.
Massey University is planning to spend more than $130 million in the next year to double the student capacity of its Albany campus and help create an innovation hub in Auckland.
The bulk of the $130 million project will be taken up with the construction of a new science and innovation research centre, which would be one of the largest in New Zealand.
The new complex would be based around engineering, maths, technology and the sciences, and linked to businesses in the area.
Massey University vice-chancellor Steve Maharey said the project could provide for up to 25,000 students, including full-time, part-time and those from overseas.
The university says it has nearly 18,000 students enrolled on its three main campuses at Albany, Palmerston North and Wellington, and about 17,000 national and worldwide distance learning extramural students.
The Albany campus is currently home to around 10,000 students.
"The [Albany] campus itself is bursting at the seams right now so we're spending a lot of time as part of this process really thinking through what our next step will be," he said.
"The game changer has really been the growth of Auckland. There's an estimated extra 430,000 people that will be in Auckland in the next few years so when you get your head around that you realise that you need to respond to that kind of growth," he said. "It's not so much that we've changed our plan, I think we've reached a point in the development of the campus now where we need to take a significant step forward."
Maharey said the plan had always been to grow the university's capacity and all going well, construction would begin in October or November.
The university has recently completed a library expansion, new student centre and more accommodation at the Albany campus, as well as reorganising some of the building area to make best use of the space.
Once the new complex had been completed the university would look at further expansion plans and Maharey said it was considering selling its 14ha Oteha Rohe campus in Albany.
Once the new complex had been completed the university would look at further expansion plans.
Talks so far had centred around an open and collaborative university and community environment similar to how Silicon Valley interacted with universities in California such as Stanford. Maharey said while the Silicon Valley model could never be replicated exactly, the idea of a close relationship between the university and the community could be a driver for creating an innovation hub in the north of Auckland.
"In Silicon Valley they have played off being a smart, well educated community. So we're saying we have a key central role to play in ensuring that the community here can develop because it's got access to the kinds of training, skills and education, and access to academics and research and so on that the universities can contribute," Maharey said.
"We're not the sole driver of this but we're looking to be kind of a catalyst for a smart innovation corridor," he said.
"We want to build a university that has a particular character to it of enterprise and entrepreneurialism and spinning out ideas and startups ... so we want a very clear culture to the place that matches what the local region appears to be about."
Massey University vice-chancellor Steve Maharey said the plan had always been to grow the university's capacity.
Maharey said initial talks with agencies and the community had been extremely positive but that the extent of the expansion would also depend on talks with university funders.
He said the project had been through an initial seminar process in partnership with a number of agencies including Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development in February.
Albany campus expansion •Initial investment of $130 million for a new Science Innovation Centre. •Aims to double number of students at the campus up to 25,000. •Set to be an innovation hub with close ties to the community. •Plans will be brought to second meeting in July.
