Established | 1976 |
---|---|
President | Dr. Richard Ede |
Students | 10,340 EFTS (2012) [1] |
Location | Auckland, New Zealand |
Unitec Institute of Technology (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka) is the largest institute of technology in Auckland, New Zealand with over 16,000 students in 2012 (10,340 EFTS) [2].
The main campus is situated in Mt Albert, Auckland, while a secondary campus is situated in Henderson, Waitakere, Auckland.
Unitec offers degree programs in arts, business, and technical subjects at the bachelors, masters and doctoral level. Applied technology (Trade) training is offered at certificate, diploma and degree level. Unitec is a member of the International Association of Universities.
Unitec was founded as "Carrington Technical Institute" in 1976 on the Mt Albert site on Carrington Rd, which has 55 hectares of grounds. The area on which Unitec's main campus is located was formerly home to the Whau Lunatic Asylum, later known as Carrington Hospital. The hospital building, an imposing brick Italianate-Romanesque structure, is located at the northern end of the Unitec campus. The hospital building was the largest building in New Zealand when it was built in the 1860s. The hospital was decommissioned during the early 1990s, and the building is now part of Unitec.
The name changed to "Carrington Polytechnic" in 1987 and then to "Unitec Institute of Technology" in 1994. Unitec applied for university status in 1999, but the Government ruled in 2005 that Unitec did not meet the academic criteria of a university and would remain an institute of technology.
In 2006, Unitec opened its new Waitakere campus in the centre of Henderson. The campus has recently been extended to include a new state-of-the art learning centre and library. The campus is a joint development with the former Waitakere City Council and includes the new Waitakere Central Library. Unitec's Waitakere campus offers mainly business, language, and health and community studies programs.