Academic audit report of the AUT

Media release 23 September 2011

Academic audit report of the Auckland University of Technology

Te Wānanga Aronui o Tamaki Makau Rau

The New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit (NZUAAU) is today releasing the report of its most recent academic audit of Auckland University of Technology. This audit is the sixth of the Cycle 4 academic audits of New Zealand universities to be conducted by NZUAAU between mid-2008 and mid-2012. Cycle 4 audits cover all aspects of an institution which are related to academic activity.

Auckland University of Technology delivers academic programmes to approximately 27,000 students based primarily at its central Auckland campus, two locations on the North Shore and the University’s newest campus in Manukau.

Auckland University of Technology’s Mission is to foster excellence, equity and ethics in learning, teaching, research and scholarship, and in doing so serve its regional, national and international communities. The University’s current Strategic Plan focuses on its role in the Auckland region in particular, and on being the university of choice for Māori and Pacific peoples. The entire University community is commended for its embedded ethos of support for the aspirations of Māori and for the manner in which kaupapa Māori is integrated with institutional activity. Auckland University of Technology is also commended for the approach taken to supporting and encouraging Pacific staff and students and for its commitment to Pacific research.

The University’s senior management and Council are commended for their responsiveness, agility and leadership in implementing strategies which further the University’s mission. The University is also commended on the extent to which the ethical dimension of its Mission is widely understood and on the manner in which it is integrated into academic courses and other university activity.

The University is commended for the strong emphasis it places on supporting teaching and the development of learning spaces and is affirmed for the approach being taken to integrate a broad mix of teaching and learning technologies which recognise the value of both traditional and cutting-edge teaching techniques.

At the time of the last audit (2006), the University was in the midst of a significant change process to build its research capability. In 2011 the positive effects of this shift were highly evident to the Audit Panel, as detailed by staff and students, and as evidenced in the University’s postgraduate student numbers and the University’s external research income. Auckland University of Technology is commended for its ongoing and wide-ranging efforts to develop its research culture. The University is commended on its expansion of the Graduate Assistants programme and on the way in which these students and early career academic staff are actively support and mentored within departments.

The panel affirms the approach taken by the University to research strategic planning as being consultative, proactive and building on existing areas of academic strength, aligned with the vision of the University. Recognising the continued growth of postgraduate student numbers, the Panel recommends that Auckland University of Technology gives greater consideration to how it will ensure an adequate number of staff with the necessary depth of knowledge to serve as postgraduate supervisors and examiners. The Panel also recommends that the University ensures that procedures relating to intellectual property, academic integrity, and ethical approval are widely understood by staff and students.

The Report includes a number of initiatives identified by Auckland University of Technology as areas in which development is planned to occur. These include improved reporting on student achievement, the realignment of systems and advising processes to support the ability of students to enrol in papers across the University, a new workload model for postgraduate supervision, a review of research funding policies and opportunities, greater engagement with alumni, and a university-wide strategy for the recruitment, development and placement of Māori staff. Additional recommendations from the Audit Panel include further development of the University’s postgraduate student procedures, a more systematic approach to risk management and benchmarking, and exploration of ways to increase the amount of internal funding available for research.
Copies of the report are available from NZUAAU; a Portable Document Format (PDF) file version of the report is posted on the NZUAAU website: http://www.nzuaau.ac.nz/.

Dr Jan Cameron
Director
23 September 2011

About the New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit

The New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit (NZUAAU) was established in 1993 to carry out audits of the processes in universities which underpin academic quality. Academic audits are carried out by panels of auditors appointed from NZUAAU’s Register of Auditors. Each panel includes an overseas external member, who is usually selected from the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) Register of Australian Auditors.

The NZUAAU governing Board is appointed by Universities New Zealand - Te Pōkai Tara (formerly the NZ Vice-Chancellors' Committee). NZUAAU is operationally independent of Universities New Zealand. NZUAAU is a full member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and follows its guidelines in quality assurance conduct. Further details, including copies of all Cycle 4 audit reports, are available from the NZUAAU website: www.nzuaau.ac.nz

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