AUT congratulates our newest graduates

28 Aug, 2017

AUT’s winter graduation ceremonies took place over two days in August with a total of 2790 students graduating.

One of the highlights in the academic year, our newest graduates gathered with their loved ones at Aotea Centre to celebrate their success.

The largest category of students graduating was those with a Bachelor Degree (1453), followed by Master’s Degree (444). Seventy-four of the graduates received multiple qualifications and 61 people graduated with a Doctoral Degree.

For those not able to attend, each of the five graduation ceremonies were streamed live via AUT’s website. More than 1500 people tuned in from around the world to watch.

Many academics and professional staff volunteered to ensure another successful graduation event.

Winter Graduation 2017 by numbers

Total number of graduates: 2,790
Bachelor’s Degree: 1453
Master’s Degree: 444
Postgraduate Diploma: 261
Postgraduate Certificate: 174
Bachelor’s Degree with Honours: 141
Graduate Diploma: 111
Certificate: 66
Doctoral Degree: 61

Case study: Therese Walkinshaw

Therese joined AUT 9 years ago and is an HR Portfolio Director here at AUT. She graduated on Thursday with a PhD from the School of Communication Studies.

Fitting in her studies, with full time work, Therese’s PhD focussed on mindfulness and leaders

“The foundation of being a great leader is to be self-aware and to be mindful. Mindfulness can be perceived as a fad, but it is much more than this. It’s a way of being and offers the ability to lead self and others to enable possibility thinking. They are more likely to be authentic and servant leaders who truly believe in the betterment of others and the greater good. Most of all they show that by being real in the workplace they have the ability to influence and inspire people around them.”

For Therese, massive contributor to her successfully completing her PhD was due to the support from her supervisors.

“The support that I received from my supervisors, Dr Frances Nelson and Dr Rosser Johnson, was amazing. They are the reason why I’ve managed to get where I am.”

Therese fitted in her studies around her work by studying on evenings and weekends and has this advice for anyone thinking of embarking on a postgraduate course.

“A PhD is such an individual journey; it’s a space where you can be extremely creative. I got a lot more than I thought I would. Not only did I write a piece of work but the self-development that happened alongside this about recognising your passions and being open to seeing things in a new perspective was a very rich journey. For anyone considering embarking on a PhD, your area of study needs to be something you can easily read on a Saturday night. If you don’t have that sense of connection, then it can be really hard.”

Case study: Fahimeh Zaeri

Fahimeh, from Iran, worked as a Civil Engineer for eight years, before deciding to return to university to study construction management. After completing a Master’s in Design Process Management at UTM (University Teknology of Malaysia), Fahimeh moved to Auckland in 2013 to begin a PhD in Construction Management at AUT under the supervision of Associate Professor James Rotimi. Her industry supervisor was Callum McCorquodale.

Her next move upon completion of her PhD will be to work as a Project Manager and Business Improvement Specialist at a consultancy agency in New Zealand.

“The construction industry is growing in New Zealand and especially in Auckland –that’s why I decided to study at AUT. A real highlight during my PhD study was the opportunity to further my research using a real life case project.

The link was facilitated by my supervisor, and demonstrates the close links that AUT has with industry. My doctoral study developed a simulation model to support planning and management teams with their decision-making processes. By running different scenarios on the simulated operations I studied, project teams on the case project got a much clearer picture of their operations. As a result, the team could develop a more reliable plan taking the constraints and variations into account, and consequently improve their project delivery.”

Fahimeh’s research work was nominated as Finalist for two awards: National Association of Women in Construction NAWIC Award, and PMINZ’s Award. Fahimeh received the Special Merit Award in the NAWIC student category.

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