Thursday 03 February 2022

Remote working where possible until Friday 4 March

Kia ora koutou katoa

As the number of Omicron cases continues to increase across the motu, I hope you and your whānau are safe and healthy.

To give some certainty on the way we’ll approach our teaching, learning and working for the next few weeks, the ELT has agreed that we will remain online where possible until Friday 04 March 2022.

We made this decision after I received feedback that weekly updates (which I indicated in last week’s message) could make planning for teaching delivery difficult. This way, our teaching staff and our students can plan for the next four weeks with certainty.

Our plan until Friday 04 March 2022 is:

• Campus remains open, but we are taking a cautious approach and encouraging most people to work remotely, if you can.
• All teaching that can be done online should be done online. Classes that cannot be taught online may proceed under our Red settings.
• You do not need to gain permission to come onto campus, however if you do come onsite, please observe all health and safety directives around mask wearing, scanning in, and keeping distance from others. If you haven't done so, please upload your My Vaccine Pass and complete the Health and Safety induction.
• Most on-campus events will be cancelled or moved online until Friday 04 March. We are cancelling all scheduled pōhiri. The marae spaces (wharekai, wharenui, Puukenga teaching space) may still be used for classes but teaching staff will need to set up and host these activities themselves; the marae team will not be available. Exemptions for on-campus events must be applied for from your ELT team member and the Health & Safety team.
• Any teams on campus should plan carefully so they are split into ‘bubbles’ to mitigate the risk of spreading Covid-19.
• All travel for work purposes outside of Auckland must be cancelled.
• We encourage everyone to get your booster vaccination as soon as you can, to boost your immunity to the virus.

Please talk with your Manager, or APM and Head of School to confirm how you’ll work over the next four weeks.

We'll send an update on Unitec's approach as we near that date, or earlier if needed, as we continue to monitor the outbreak and our response.  

Thank you for your patience as we work together to provide the best experience for our students, while keeping our Unitec whānau safe.

Ngā mihi

Gus Gilmore
Chief Executive