New student spaces at uni
Massey University has opened two new spaces to help students with learning and sharing ideas.
The university opened an investment room and a student enterprise studio on Tuesday, with both Palmerston North mayor and Massey vice-chancellor Jan Thomas in attendance.
The investment room is a live trading room for finance students and those interested in investment, with computers displaying financial market dates and screens with rolling news coverage.
Massey’s head of business school Stephen Kelly said it would have finance, economic and accounting people sharing the same space and the room would give the university a more practical element to the way it teaches. ‘‘It will help them learn how the market works, how to trade if they want to get into trade, help them to visualise inflation and interest rates.’’
He said it was a great asset for the university.
‘‘The investment room is there to support students with career and business advice and aims to get them thinking about investing for their long-term future.’’
Massey opened its first investment room at the Albany campus in 2015. This is the second.
The colourful student enterprise studio is a space for connecting students and staff with opportunities for enterprise on campus and in the community.
Regular events are already being held in the studio, including those run by the university’s entrepreneurship and innovation centre.
Massey’s dean of enterprise Gavin Clark said students didn’t have to be doing a business degree to have an enterprise mindset.
He said universities had a role to play in tackling social challenges and contributing to development.
‘‘The student enterprise studio is about connecting students to a wider enterprise ecosystem so they can find collaborators to develop their ideas, including through the establishment of startup companies.’’