EIT gains top rank on 40th anniversary

Chris Collins, left, said it was a huge "tick" of confidence in how well the merger had gone. Photo / File

Plans for 40th anniversary celebrations at the EIT this year have been given a boost with confirmation that the Taradale-based college has been confirmed as one of New Zealand's top-ranking tertiary education institutes.

The EIT, first registered as the Hawke's Bay Community College in 1975, renamed the Hawke's Bay Polytechnic in 1987 and Eastern Institute of Technology in 1996, has achieved the highest-possible New Zealand Qualifications Authority Category 1 ranking in its 2014 independent external evaluation and review (EER) of the institution.

The ranking, which is held by most degree-providing institutions, is based on the NZQA being "highly confident" in EIT's educational performance and capability to self-assess, and reaffirms the outcome of the EIT's review in 2010, done as the institution was contemplating the merger with Gisborne's Tairawhiti Polytechnic, which took place the following year.

Chief executive Chris Collins said: "We have worked hard to continue to improve and build off our strengths. Our communities can be satisfied that in Tairawhiti and Hawke's Bay they have access to top quality tertiary education at one of New Zealand's highest ranked tertiary institutions."

He said it was a huge "tick" of confidence in how well the merger had gone.

The review covered a wide range of Levels 1 to 9 study programmes and, according to EIT academic and student services director Jo Blakeley, was a "hugely rigorous" process.

Drawing on student achievement data from EIT, NZQA and the Tertiary Education Commission, it considered course and qualification completions in new and more longstanding programmes. It also appraised the value of qualifications to employers and their level of satisfaction with graduates.

NZQA says the focus areas - Maori studies, horticulture, travel and tourism, computing, trades, health and sport science and the blended learning options for the Bachelor of Applied Social Sciences and the Bachelor of Nursing - were chosen "to represent a reasonable cross-section of programmes and activities across the organisation and its campuses".

EIT has been the first ITP to have blended learning offerings assessed as a focus area and, in another first for an EER review and at EIT's request, the Matauranga Maori Evaluative Quality Assurance framework was used in evaluating the Bachelor of Arts (Maori) and Certificate in Maori Studies.

The process draws on key principles and concepts from Te Ao Maori (the Maori world view), recognising the uniqueness of Matauranga Maori qualifications.

The report points to EIT's "important contribution" to Matauranga Maori, and says students gain the opportunity to contribute back to their communities in a range of ways, including marae and iwi restoration projects, mara kai (growing vegetable gardens) and language projects.

EIT has the third-highest percentage of Maori students (43 per cent) among Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs), the government-owned tertiary education organisations. Almost half the student population is under 25 years of age.

NZQA says EIT has responded to the changing demographic through a strong analysis of performance for priority students while acknowledging more work has to be done.

The institute's Youth Guarantee programme had grown from 74 equivalent full-time students in 2010 to 204 in 2013 while the Trades Academy, opened with 245 students in 2012, had 368 enrolled in the next year.

The 40th-year celebrations in October will includeg a book on the histories of the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne campuses.