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Tēnā koutou katoa
It was with great pride that we welcomed more than 130 International students to the first of our International Welcome Days yesterday with a pōwhiri and campus tour before activities get underway at each School for the full Orientation next week. These follow the recent pōwhiri we have done for UPC, Healthcare and Social Practice, Environmental and Animal Science and Building Construction students as they start their first semester with us.
In light of the coronavirus situation, I appreciate the concern raised regarding our tikanga practices (specifically the hongi) as part of the pōwhiri process. I have met with our Pae Arahi Matua Hare Paniora and marae team on several occasions to discuss our role in safeguarding our staff and students during this period of heightened awareness. We have discussed and agreed on a number of options depending on the status of coronavirus and have a number of plans in place in order for us to respond to the appropriate levels of risk.
While we still have no confirmed cases of coronavirus in New Zealand, we are continuing to take a precautionary approach and have made some temporary adjustments to our pōwhiri process as a result of this. We are now hosting pōwhiri outside on the marae-ātea, the forecourt in front of the wharenui, and only have two representatives - the kaikōrero and kaikaranga - from the manuhiri, or visiting side, come over to do the harirū and hongi.
The participation in hongi remains voluntary at any given time, and our marae team will continue to make this very clear to staff, students and all our visitors to Te Noho Kotahitanga.
As stated previously, should the risks of coronavirus be increased, we will respond accordingly and make further changes as necessary.
Our Incident Management Team continues to meet daily to review the status of coronavirus and ensures we remain strongly connected to advice from Ministry of Health experts, TEC and other ITPs. The team has done an outstanding job, evidenced by the work undertaken in supporting our international students who have already arrived in New Zealand and those who are still in their home countries. As we can all appreciate, this is a stressful and anxious time for some and I have been very gratified by the institute-wide response.
Please feel free to email me, gmckay@unitec.ac.nz, with any concerns or questions. If you have any students needing information or guidance on delayed starts to courses, please direct them to Student Support.
Ngā mihi
Glenn Mckay
Te Tumu / Executive Director – Student Success
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