Your experience as a Unitec student – what’s staying the same

Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec (MIT and Unitec) are now united in purpose. With 100 years of combined educational leadership in Tāmaki Makaurau, our two institutions have come together to form the largest independent training provider in Aotearoa.

While this is big news for vocational training in the region, we don’t expect students will notice much change to begin with.

On this page

Information for students:

What we’re building together

MIT and Unitec coming together will bring real benefits for learners across Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland.

  • More Opportunities. Together overtime our aim is to offer:
  • More pathways for students
  • Deeper connections to industry
  • Stronger support for our communities

A city-wide learning network. Serving 20,000 students each year, we now have:

  • Five purpose-built campuses across Tāmaki Makaurau
  • A wide range of programmes across multiple disciplines (with more opportunities continuing to grow)

Ready for the future. Together we will:

  • Play a stronger role in providing a skilled workforce for the region
  • Help address shortages in vital industries
  • Maintain close industry partnerships
  • Ensure learners graduate ready to make a difference

We’re committed to keeping your journey clear, consistent, and focused on your success.

About the combined institution

The combined institute represents the largest deliverer of on campus skills training in the country, also with significant capability in workplace and online settings.

Success means working alongside our learners, staff, iwi, communities, businesses, service sectors and other providers to realise the full potential of this model.

Together, we are building a regionally-focused platform enabling:

  • MIT and Unitec as the leading provider of vocational education and training for Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland, appealing to ākonga (learners) from around the country and internationally.
  • Deep care for our ākonga while delivering high-quality, relevant, and future-focused learning that reflects diverse strengths and regional needs.
  • Our graduates as impressive, confident and capable; with employers and community partners valuing the skills, excellence and innovation they bring to the workforce and region

To guide us, we have produced an interim strategic position (PDF, 965KB).

It includes Te Waka Hourua | ‘The Double-Hulled Waka,’ a framework for honouring and discussing the values, principles and legacies of both organisations as we move forward together.

Information for students

What the changes mean for you

We don’t expect learners will notice a lot of change to begin with.

However, we are looking forward to exploring the full benefits for our learners, iwi, communities and businesses of joining together to form a nationally and internationally significant provider of on campus vocational education and training, with capability to also deliver in the workplace and online.

We think this will allow us to offer a wider range of high-quality training to learners across Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland, while also making this training more accessible.

Being independent will allow us to develop our own qualifications which are specifically designed to respond to the needs of our communities and industries.

It will also allow us to engage more closely with the service sectors, organisations and businesses in our region to understand and meet their training needs.

These important conversations will create more opportunities for our learners and their career development.

Enrolments

If you enrol (or are already enrolled) with Unitec, you will still be able to finish your qualification with us.

The combined provider has taken on all the responsibilities held by MIT and Unitec.

That includes enrolments.

When you enrol with us, you are buying a service. We take responsibility for delivering the training for and assessing the certificate, block course, diploma, degree or post graduate qualification you have opted to study. 

Like many other services, tertiary enrolments are covered under Consumer Guarantees Act, which is the legislation protecting the rights of consumers in this country.

Qualifications

From this year on, all qualifications will be legally issued by MIT and Unitec as a combined provider.

However, we understand the importance of the MIT and Unitec brands, along with the fifty-plus years of history and credibility they have for our learners, iwi, communities and industry partners.

As a result, it is likely our qualifications will continue to feature reference to the individual brands for some time to come.

Where you’re studying

We don’t anticipate there will be much change to this in the short-to-medium term.

As with any tertiary education organisation, we want our training to be as accessible to our learners as possible.

Over time, this may lead to changes to the locations where we are offering training, including the potential to expand delivery through partnership arrangements and technology.

If changes are proposed, we will take into consideration the needs of learners and potential disruption any decisions may cause them.  We will also notify you – our learners -of any changes in advance of making any changes.

Student loan eligibility and fees

There won’t be any changes to student loan eligibility as a result of MIT and Unitec becoming one entity.

Domestic and international fees have been set for 2026.

There will be no change to student loans available to our learners due to this decision.

Communication

The legal name of the new organisation is Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec. However, students will continue to be communicated with as either MIT or Unitec, depending on where they study. This includes things like marketing, student updates, and other day-to-day communications.

Alongside our usual messages you see out and about about studying with us, we’ll also be sharing what it means to come together as one organisation, and how this strengthens the training and services we offer our people and communities.

Partnerships and agreements

We look forward to honouring and advancing the current relationships held by our provider.

Currently, we are looking for opportunities to engage with these important stakeholders to affirm our commitment to mahi work we are doing together.

There are also many opportunities to expand our relationships with industry, iwi and other interested parties.

Student representation

Good student representation reflects the interests of the diverse learner groups we serve, the communities they come from, as well as the range of disciplines we offer.

MIT and Unitec Student Councils will merge to become a single strong voice for our learners from 2027 onwards.

Māori leadership for the combined organisation

The Senior Leadership Team offers guidance and makes decisions for MIT and Unitec. The team is drawn from across our combined organisation.

It includes MIT kaumatua Vince Hapi (Waikato Tainui), Unitec Taharangi Vivienne Merito (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkeko) and MIT Director of Māori Education Dr Wiremu Manaia (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Awa).

MIT and Unitec remains committed to the relationships, partnerships, values and purpose which underpinned our institutions as standalone providers.

These include the Kawenata between MIT and Waikato-Tainui and Te Noho Kotahitanga, the partnership between Māori and non-Māori on which Unitec’s principles and values are based.

In MIT and Unitec’s interim Strategic Direction states that:

“Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec will be guided by Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It shapes our values, priorities, and practices as we work to achieve equity for Māori and Tangata Tiriti. We will build upon our enduring and respectful relationships with iwi, hapū, and hapori across Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland, strengthening meaningful and long-term partnerships with shared aspirations.”

Questions?

If you have a question around enrolments, teaching and learning, please contact the relevant service or school.

If you’d like to know more about what MIT and Unitec becoming a combined provider will mean for you, please email commsteam@manukau.ac.nz or communications@unitec.ac.nz