More than three hundred graduates celebrated success and new beginnings at three Certificate Graduation Ceremonies from 17-19 March.
The Wednesday ceremony was for graduates who studied at the Manukau Campus.
Certificate programmes typically range in duration from six months to two years and pathway graduates to employment or further study.
Whānau and friends packed the Manukau Campus atrium over three emotional evenings to share the special moment with their loved ones.
Study leads to employment
Electrical trades learner Christian Max Auvaa now has work in the renewable energy sector after completing his Level 3 New Zealand Certificate in Electrical Pre-Trade programme. Before starting the programme, Mr Auvaa was pursuing rugby league opportunities and playing competitively.
Christian Max Auvaa at TechPark Campus.
“In 2022, I went over to Fiji to play rugby league,” he says.
But his promising sporting opportunity was cut short when he injured his shoulder in his first game. Rather than letting the setback derail his plans, Mr Auvaa turned his focus toward building a career in trades.
“I applied for an apprenticeship but didn’t have any luck,” he says.
Instead of waiting for the opportunity to come to him, he decided to take the initiative and develop his skills. “I thought I’d get myself ahead and just study while I didn’t have the apprenticeship,” he says.
That decision paid off. While studying for his Level 3 at MIT, Mr Auvaa secured a role in the installing solar panels, gaining valuable hands-on experience.
Chase Anderson-Williams left school in Year 12 not knowing exactly what pathway he’d choose.
Chase Anderson-Williams with his sister (left) and mother.
“Obviously when he dropped out, we thought ‘we really want you to finish school,’” says his sister Escence Kingi-Williams at the Thursday ceremony for TechPark graduates.
“MIT was something that really spoke to him. There was part of him that was doubtful but now that he’s here and doing what he’s doing we’re just so proud of him. It just goes to show that learning doesn’t have to be linear,” Ms Kingi-Williams says.
Chase graduated NZ Certificate in Building and Construction (Level 3) and is now in the same line of work as his father and uncles before him. Mr Anderson-Williams has a job with Kiwi Sheds assembling steel framing for sheds, barns and hangars.
“It’s good. On my first day, I found out that the people I’m on site with worked with my dad when I was being born so it’s a really small world.”
“It’s just amazing seeing him find something that he’s really passionate about,” his mother Yolene Williams says.
Graduates from the TechPark ceremony on Thursday.
Pathway into further study
Digital Technologies learner Kiana Su’a Vainerere is among many graduates who has chosen to do further study after earning a Level 4 certificate in the discipline.
Studying digital technology was not originally part of the plan for the 24-year-old.
“I wanted to be an ECE (early childhood education) teacher,” says the Information Technology Essentials graduate.
“But after I did a little bit of volunteering, I thought maybe that was not for me.”
After gaining some work experience, Kiana began looking for opportunities in a sector with strong growth prospects. Enrolling in MIT’s Level 4 programme proved to be the turning point.
Her success in the course earned Kiana the Māori and Pacific Students Scholarship, which helped support transition into further study. She is now continuing her journey in the Level 5 Diploma in Digital Technologies programme.
Whanau and friends of the graduates play an important part of the ceremony.
Deputy Chief Executive Academic, Professor Martin Carroll congratulated all the graduates and thanked them for choosing MIT.
“Tonight, you’ve made Auckland and Aotearoa a better place not just for you but your families and the industries you’re going to serve.
“We recognise that there is dignity, intelligence, creativity and financial reward in being a skilled trades person and technician.
“You’re going to build the houses we live in, you’re going to wire and plumb the places we work in, you’re going to fix the things we break. Society won’t function without you.”
MIT has four campuses including Manukau, TechPark, Ōtara and City Centre offering programmes up to bachelors and graduate diploma level. MIT awarded more than one thousand certificates across all study areas either at a ceremony or by post. MIT congratulates all its latest certificate graduates.
All three ceremonies were held at the Manukau Campus.
MIT offers certificate programmes in the following study areas:
- Accounting
- Administration
- Automotive technologies
- Baking and patisserie
- Carpentry
- Civil engineering
- Culinary
- Digital Technologies
- Domestic maritime
- Early childhood
- Electrical engineering
- Electrical trades
- English
- Floristry
- Foundation and bridging programmes
- Hairdressing
- Health and Counselling
- Hospitality (barista, café, and restaurant)
- Marine engineering
- Mechanical engineering
- Mechanical engineering trades
- Nautical foreign-going
- Nursing
- Pacific languages
- Plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying
- Police Preparation
- Refrigeration and air conditioning
- Social Work
- Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science
- Superyacht
- Supported Learning (Inclusive Education)
- Te Reo Māori
More information on what we offer is available here
