The University of Waikato has been proudly operating in the Bay of Plenty for more than 30 years through education, research, and industry partnerships.
With the opening of the Tauranga city campus in 2019, the University has taken its place as a regional hub for learning, collaboration, and innovation. Year-on-year we have continued to build our presence in the city with the development of new world-class facilities and programmes to support the success of students and staff and the delivery of research that is having global impact.
The Tauranga campus is now a magnet for the attraction and retention of highly skilled people, including some of the brightest minds in the country delivering a suite of high-quality programmes ranging from business to science, law, psychology, education and our flagship one-year total immersion Māori language and teaching progamme, Te Tohu Paetahi.
At the heart of our growth has been partnerships and collaboration with our communities, industry, Government, and iwi. Through these relationships we have been able to create new opportunities for our students, researchers, and the region.
These relationships have facilitated initiatives like our work integrated learning papers for undergraduate students in their final year of study. A Bachelor’s degree from Waikato is unique because of these papers that are part of our commitment to help every learner reach their career ambitions. We are not just teaching students; we are connecting them with careers as they apply their professional skills and demonstrate their graduate knowledge to employers who partner with us.
Our connections with industry have also been integral in the launch of our Blue/Green Tech Lab, a collaboration between our marine specialties and other STEM disciplines including robotics, engineering, information technology, horticultural, science and development. This innovative centre for excellence in research and development is already delivering results for our primary industry and the region.
Our researchers working in this space are at the leading edge of robotics and automation and are bringing real world solutions to issues like how to revitalise our horticulture industry. Together alongside industry partners like Zespri they have developed tools from the e-Bin kiwifruit harvester to autonomous orchard survey robots and robotic asparagus harvesters.
Our Sulphur Point Coastal Marine Field Research Station, established in 2011, also continues to grow as the home of world-changing research, engineering, data mapping and analysis. Our work to expand in this space alongside industry and business partners saw us build NZ’s first state-of-the art seaweed cultivation Facility for Aquaculture Research of Macroalgae (FARM), at Sulphur Point in 2020. This facility is helping us work in collaboration with industry leaders like AgriSea and local and central Government organisations to grow New Zealand’s fledgling seaweed industry.
We are excited to continue developing our marine research capabilities in coming years and to increase our study offerings for students in the Marine Science fields, alongside our leading academics, industry, and our community.
Tauranga is also home to the Adams Centre for High Performance Sport, the place where current and future athletes, Olympians and achievers learn and develop. Our custom-built facilities and ground-breaking research in sport and human performance are creating champions locally and the world over and the next generation of professionals who will support them.
The student experience we deliver in Tauranga is central to everything we do at the University, and our new student accommodation at Selwyn Street, right across the road from the campus, provides a safe space for students to experience everything University life in the Bay has to offer while building friendships to last a lifetime.
As the exciting vision and plan for the revitalisation and redevelopment of Tauranga city emerges a fully integrated tertiary campus is a key component of this. With that vision in mind, we will continue to expand the physical campus in Tauranga while we build on our teaching and research programmes that signal our place as the lead tertiary partner for the region.
We are ambitious in our plans for this region and will continue to grow our domestic and international students, with the goal of keeping our young people in the Bay and welcoming more to the wonderful lifestyle and opportunities the region provides.
We are proud to be taking the Bay of Plenty to the world – and bringing the world to the Bay.
