Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti
16 mins ago
EIT graduates parading through the streets following their graduation ceremony.
EIT graduates are celebrating their Hawke’s Bay graduation on 25 and 26 March including the traditional parades.
Graduation will be staged in three ceremonies over two days – for the first time at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre.
The parades through central Hastings start at 4.30pm on Thursday and at 1pm on Friday.
Graduation marks the awarding of diploma, degree and postgraduate qualifications completed last year. EIT’s 2019 graduates, who were impacted by the necessity to cancel last year’s ceremonies, were offered the opportunity to cross the stage at this year’s ceremonies.
EIT, including the three campuses in Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti and Auckland, continues to achieve strongly in awarding qualifications, 3,354 for 2020. Of these 967 (29%) were for degree and postgraduate study. These are similar numbers to previous years, impressive given the extraordinary circumstances of study in 2020.
COVID-19 also impacted the delivery of much of the practical and community-based certificate level offerings. Nonetheless EIT still awarded 2,387 certificates and training scheme awards in 2020.
A significant change observed was the increasing number of people studying online. In 2020, 7.6% (801 people) of EIT’s student body studied fully online (not including the temporary online delivery during the lockdowns).
Notable is the growing number of Māori completing qualifications across EIT’s various schools. Last year, Māori comprised 45 percent of EIT Hawke’s Bay’s student body. 42 percent of EIT’s 2020 graduates are Māori.
EIT’s student body is characterised by its diversity. Whilst international student numbers were down last year due to obvious reasons, there were still 972 students from 42 different countries studying at EIT.
The valedictorians who will deliver speeches on behalf of their fellow graduates are Wendy Jarnet receiving her Bachelor in Veterinary Nursing, Jazz Singh who completed a Bachelor in Business Studies and Pairama Wright who will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts, Māori, Honours.
