Improving student life in Auckland all part of council masterplan

A council plan to make Auckland the best city for students in New Zealand was introduced at a Youth Advisory Panel meeting on Monday.

The Student Experience Action Plan is part of a wider push to get more people living in the CBD.

Susan McGregor-Bevan and Simon Oddie, from Eke Panuku Development, introduced the initiative to the advisory panel.

“We heard from a wide range of stakeholders that students are a really important part of the fabric of the city centre, and we need to be doing more to support that, enhancing the role they play in its vibrancy and its urban and cultural fabric,” Oddie says.

McGregor-Bevan said that while a third of all tertiary students study in Auckland, it lacks the “student city reputation” other cities in NZ have.

“Students need to form part of a wider fabric of society here in the city centre.

“It’s something that visitors to cities talk about … they want to see an active buzzy place that accommodates diversity, diverse interests, innovation, and what makes Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau special.”

She says the council is looking to foster growth in employment, safety, community and connectivity for students.

The plan is being developed in collaboration with the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland.

President of the Auckland University Students’ Association Gabriel Boyd has been involved and says the council needs to get more students engaged in the plan.

LISTEN: Gabriel Boyd talks about what he hopes the Student Experience Action Plan can achieve.

“One of the main actions is to include the student voice when they're making these sorts of decisions.

“I appreciate that they have sent the plan through to some student leaders in Auckland, but it's not enough.

“I think we need to have students sitting on the City Centre Advisory Panel, which is really spearheading this initiative.”

He says he’d like the plan to address issues that he says discourage students from studying and living in the city, such as inferior student life, campus experience, transport reliability and the cost of living.

Boyd has high hopes for the plan, but he says its success depends on students, who will ultimately be the ones shaping Auckland’s inner-city culture.

“I think it's going to require students to push themselves.

"There's not that drive to get out there and to socialise and to be part of these clubs and initiatives that you're talking about.”

The plan will be discussed at the next City Centre Advisory Panel meeting on May 5, and with more detail at the next Youth Advisory Panel meeting on June 23.

These meetings are open to the public.