REANNZ delivers eduroam to Te Pūkenga learners

By the end of 2023, all ākonga (learners) and kaimahi (staff) at Te Pūkenga will have access to free, secure, high-performance WiFi through REANNZ’s eduroam network.

Te Pūkenga brought together 25 polytechnics and industry training providers across Aotearoa, and now delivers vocational education to 271,000 ākonga and employs 9,000 kaimahi.

eduroam will be key to unlocking their connectivity.

“This is a huge win for both ākonga and kaimahi as it will allow a seamless, single sign-on access at their campuses as well as the additional enabled sites if they are travelling around the country,” says Te Pūkenga Chief Digital Officer Teresa Pollard.

“Joining eduroam is a major step towards realising our goal of putting ākonga at the centre of what we do, whether they’re learning with us on-campus, online or in the workplace. We anticipate most of the Te Pūkenga network will be on eduroam by the end of November. It will greatly enhance and simplify the digital experience we offer those learning and working with us,” Teresa says.

REANNZ Chief Executive Amber McEwen says the rollout at Te Pūkenga is part of a broader strategy to ensure greater connection across the research and education sectors. 

“Our goal at REANNZ is to enable students and educators to study, research and collaborate wherever they are. That might happen at a school, a tertiary education facility, or a local library or marae. eduroam is a huge part of making that happen because it provides simple, easy and secure connectivity across hotspots, nationally and globally,” says Amber. 

“We have already implemented it across a host of member institutions – from Crown agencies and tertiary education facilities – and we’re also ramping up our footprint in libraries and other community hubs. This year, we successfully piloted eduroam in 15 libraries in Southland and Otago – and we’re also working with the Ministry of Education on an initiative to roll it out to secondary schools over the next 12 months.”  

For more information about eduroam sites across Aotearoa, check out our list here. 

Or get in touch with the engagement team engagement@reannz.co.nz if you want to know more about our roll-out plan.