About Us
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Our People
The people at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic are passionate, creative and supportive. Our students, staff and governance come from a range of different backgrounds and experiences, and go on to do many different things, however they have one thing in common; they're the kind of people we're proud to work together with to reach their fullest potential.
Everyone on the staff, from administration to council members, is dedicated to our students and to providing the best possible learning and teaching experience for everyone.
Our Students and Graduates
The Polytechnic is home to an amazing community of students and staff creating a vibrant, friendly atmosphere. You can hear our talented music students jamming, taste the delicious food served up by our hospitality students, get fit with our passionate sport and recreation students, and get the latest industry insights from our engineering team.

Here are some stats on our students:
- 9,443 students enrolled
- 3,374 total EFTS ('Equivalent Full-time Students')
- 26% Māori students
- 2% Pacific Island students
- 1% International students (that’s about 80 -100 international students)
Gender
- Male: 52%
- Female 48%
Age
- <20: 30%
- 20-24: 15%
- 25-30: 10%
- 31-40: 14%
- 41-50: 17%
- >51: 14%
Hometown
- 81%
- 6%
- 4%
- 3%
- in the Western Bay of Plenty
- in the Eastern Bay of Plenty
- in Waikato
- in rest of the North Island
At our six 2010 graduation ceremonies 3,418 awards, certificates & diplomas were presented to our graduates.
- 2,050 for full programme certificate & diplomas
- 1,368 for short awards
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Staff
Our staff are highly skilled and experienced professionals who are motivated, creative, innovative, curious and have a passion to help others succeed. It really is true what our annual report says. They're teachers, learners, helpers, coaches, artists, researchers, environmentalists, innovators and champions – all working together to reach our fullest potential.

Amongst our teaching staff we've got:
- 2 national Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award winners (2009 and 2010)
- 2 supreme award winners, a bridal wear winner, a menswear winner at Westfield Style Pasifika (2007, 2009, 2010)
- a 4-time winner of the Auckland Marathon
- a NZ High Performance Elite Beach Volleyball Manager and former NZ Volleyball player
And here are a few numbers about our staff:
Academic vs. Allied Staff
- 183 FTE allied staff
- 192 FTE academic staff
Gender
- Male: 41%
- Female: 59%
Ethnicity
- 50% are Pakeha/European
- 18% consider themselves New Zealanders
- 12% are Māori
- 1% are Indian
- 2% are Other European
- 3% fall under Other Asian & Oceania
- 13% are listed as other or unknown