Derek McCormack
Vice Chancellor of Auckland University of Technology

Background – Derek McCormack

• Masters Degree in Biochemistry
• Former national President of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education
• Vice Chancellor of AUT since April 2004

Background – Auckland University of Technology

• Has spent 110 years as an institute of technology, recently being acknowledged as a University on 1 January 2000.
• 16,000 students and 2000 staff with an annual turnover of $200 million.
• AUT is based on the new trend of universities that focus on practical education.

AUT and International Students
AUT currently hosts 4000 international students from 72 different countries constituting 23% of all students at the university. AUT relies heavily on the attendance of international students as they provide 27% of their annual income as well as being accountable for $1 billion of educational spending nationwide. There is however a perception that international students pose a risk to our education system because we might become too reliant on the revenue they generate.

APEC’s Role in Education
Mr McCormack believes that in the Asia Pacific region, there are many voices, faiths, languages and cultures, and consequently misunderstanding, but APEC moves across borders. Educational globalisation brings together different threads of education, which can help us understand the diverse economies within APEC. He feels that APEC can engage members from the basis of not knowing about each other to sharing mutual misunderstanding and then acting together to pursue the things that interest them as economies. In terms of APEC’s objectives Mr McCormack is of the opinion that the real challenge must be for APEC economies to come together and recognise their ignorance for one anothers’ cultures. Thus APEC’s goals are perhaps unrealistic but there is no present alternative.

Student Perspective
Mr McCormack gave us a unique perspective on APEC as an educationalist, which we found most intriguing. He provoked thought on the curiosity, humility and engagement we can all employ in making APEC successful. This conference has given us the opportunity to listen to many strong voices but at the end of the day it is our own voices that we take away.

Quotes
“People of the world have never been so aware of each other.”
“The best things humans can do are done together.”
“Voices can help us to share understanding.”
“Not knowing means being open to new knowing and other knowing.”

Contributed by: Zak Leith and Sarah Tang

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