The performance of a diverse cohort of civil engineering students at Unitec Institute of Technology (2010-2019)

Abstract

The growth in international students over the past decade, and large-scale immigration into the Auckland area, have both contributed to a rapidly diversifying student cohort at Unitec New Zealand. In the period 2010 to 2019, 1856 distinct students studied civil engineering at Unitec. Within the domestic cohort alone, these students came from 39 different nationalities, and at least 28 different ethnic groups. The topic of this paper is how educational performance is associated with various demographic characteristics, particularly in respect of nationality, ethnicity, gender, age, part-time or full-time study, and activity prior to study. Particularly important are the findings pertaining to the New Zealand Government’s designated priority groups. Māori in civil engineering are underrepresented in relation to their proportion of the population in West Auckland, but are performing well academically, whereas domestic Pasifika, who are well represented, are falling behind other groups in terms of educational performance. International students, on the whole, academically outperform domestic students. The article concludes with 17 key findings, and a recommendation that future research focuses on students who drop out of civil engineering during their first year of study. An enhanced understanding of this group of students has the potential to significantly improve educational performance indicators for civil engineering, starting from when students begin their first semester of study in the discipline.