Unitec

"New Zealand has traded successfully on its self-created brand as ‘100 % Pure’ since its introduction in 2000. The country enacted pioneering legislation embracing the notion of sustainable development through its Resource Management Act (1991) and was an early signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992). In its Tertiary Education Strategy 2007-2012 the government signalled its desire that the country’s higher education sector should support its ambitious environmental vision and goals.

A strategic audit of the environmental performance of a publicly-funded New Zealand tertiary institution was conducted to examine the extent to which the institution achieved its stated environmental goals, and the environmental goals stated in the government’s national and educational priorities. The audit identified that the institution had retreated substantially from its earlier pioneering commitments to environmental initiatives, commenced in the late 1990s. In conversation with senior leaders, two factors appeared influential in accounting for this retreat. First, the institution was under financial duress. Secondly, there was significant dissonance between the government’s stated vision and aims supporting education for sustainability and practical policy implementation. Specifically, there was a failure to translate the aims into an explicit investment funding priority for the tertiary education sector.

New Zealand's Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that: 'all tertiary graduates leaving [higher educational institutions] should possess a core understanding of environmental sustainability as a result of institutes encouraging education for sustainability throughout their organisations'. Despite the recommendation, the most recent tertiary education strategy retreats further from this position, condemning the nation’s future innovation and ability to develop sustainably through a ‘conspiracy of ignorance’."

Citation:
Mellalieu, P. J. (2011). The Rise and Fall of Education for Sustainability in New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Strategies: An Orchestrated Conspiracy of Ignorance? In XXIX International Conference of the International Council for Higher Education (Vol. 24). Miami/Ft Lauderdale: International Council for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1518839/

— This paper presents the results of an analysis made of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the hometowns of the students belonging to UNITEC's Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. These specific characteristics may influence their possibility of enrolling and finishing their undergraduate studies. Therefore, they should be taken into account when designing specific strategies to attract, engage and retain such students.