Students of 17 courses at EIT Te Pūkenga will continue to be taught off-campus next year, after the Napier site was badly damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo: wintec.ac.nz
Students of 17 courses at EIT Te Pūkenga will continue to be taught off-campus next year, after the Napier site was badly damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle.
About 90 percent of the ground floor buildings on the Taradale campus had been flooded and silt-ridden, EIT Te Pūkenga interim operations lead Glen Harkness said.
So far about 30 percent of those were fixed and being used again, and another 30 to 40 percent would follow by the start of semester one in February next year.
"At this stage, there's no plans to not run any programmes, however, because we'll only have 60 to 70 percent of our buildings open, it will mean that some programmes will need to continue to be delivered at alternative sites in the Napier and Hastings area."
That amounted to about 15 percent of courses with students stuck learning elsewhere, primarily because EIT would not have the required specialist facilities ready.
"Our aim is to return delivery to campus as quickly as we possibly can," Harkness said, without detailing when that would be.
Up to 45 different venues had been used for teaching and learning this year, but programmes requiring specialist spaces were prioritised to get back to campus as quickly as possible, he said.
"At the start of semester two this year, in July, we returned a relatively large number of programmes that require specialist spaces such as some of the trades programmes, automotive and electrical, plumbing, we returned nursing, as well as vet nursing."
The damaged buildings were all fixable, but EIT would reconsider how they were used in future.
Some buildings would be restored to their former use, some may be changed, and some would not be remediated fully, but those decisions had not been made yet, he said.
"They will be retained in the interim, because we're desperate for space, and some of those buildings we can currently use.
"But the long-term plan for the campus hasn't yet been decided because the complexities in remediating some of these buildings is taking a while to evaluate."
That was partly a reflection of the large number of buildings: more than 500 rooms had to be repaired, Harkness said.
Any decisions not to repair some facilities did not mean courses would be reduced, he said.
"Our intent is to continue to offer the same programmes, and hopefully grow our portfolio to better meet the needs of the Hawke's Bay community."
