CIO 100: Manukau Institute of Technology

MANUKAU INSTITUTE OF Technology (MIT) has specialised campuses across the greater Auckland region. It offers more than 1500 courses making up foundation, certifi cate, diploma, and degree programmes, supporting progression from foundation level to higher level qualifi cations and employment. It is known for degrees that combine academic rigour with practical skills.

In 2014, MIT opened its new building at the Manukau Campus, where courses in business, ICT, tourism, logistics and creative arts are taught.

The building integrates the latest in high tech education, providing fast wireless technology and a virtual desktop infrastructure. It combines closed, open and social study spaces, as well as specialist spaces including computer labs and network labs. The building has been designed to support BYOD, providing free Wi-Fi for students.

John Holley, head of ICTS, says the ICTS team will continue with its “emphasis on service delivery”, using the ITIL framework, as a key enabler for them to work with the diverse users of these facilities. ICTS staff will receive ongoing ITIL training as well as Gallup Strengths coaching to support them in delivering excellent service to the Institute.

Holley says the projects the team will work this year include the implementation of a new LMS, continuing the work on pervasive Wi-Fi across the other campuses, including some N+1 resiliency for key teaching spaces, ongoing enhancements to MIT information security, a continuation of the move to cloud services including business intelligence.

This work aims to ensure that ICTS supports key teaching and learning initiatives across the organisation, ensuring staff and students have excellent infrastructure, systems and resources, says Holley.

MIT will be using a blended delivery approach to increase the level of delivery and support that can be accessed online from the home, workplace, church or library. The teaching staff will also receive ongoing development support in using evolving technology and digital learning tools.