Auckland MPs visit Albany campus

It was a moment of discovery for a number of Auckland MPs and local body politicians who came to visit Massey University’s Albany campus recently. In the 19 years the campus had been in action, many had never set foot on site before.

Hosted by Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey, it was an opportunity to outline how the campus has grown, and how Massey University has made great strides in working with the local community to build partnerships and focus on adding value economically and academically.

Recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreements with the Auckland Council, Ngati Whatua o Kaipara, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum highlight that inter-connectedness, and Professor Paul Spoonley and Professor Christoph Shumacher, co-directors of the Auckland Knowledge Hub, discussed the closer engagement with business that will benefit industry and students alike.

The international opportunities for learning were also outlined, with Massey University’s presence teaching food technology in Singapore, and Albany’s attractiveness to international students and academics as ‘a nice place to live’.

Distinguished Professor Gaven Martin highlighted the world-renowned academics teaching at Massey who attract the cream of the global post-graduate student crop choosing to come to New Zealand to further their education. With a science board comprising Nobel Prize winners, Wolf Prize winners and arguably the world’s leading biologist and chemist of their generation, the Institute of Advanced Study leads the world in theoretical sciences.

A focus on high tech industries, and the ability of Massey to both host north Auckland’s ICT cluster and provide trained personnel, students and academic research from the university and business incubation facilities through the ecentre, shows that Massey is perfectly positioned to build the skills New Zealand needs for growth.

The visit concluded with a guided tour of the campus.