The Southern Institute of Technology Group (SIT) achieved a net surplus of $1.064 million for the year ending 31 December 2020.

Board chair Alison Broad says: "This is very pleasing result for a year of such change and uncertainty, due to Covid.

"It reflects the strong base from which SIT operates. 

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"Our income and reserve levels remain strong and that means we have options and can move forward with confidence as we explore new opportunities."

SIT recorded revenue of $61.344 million for the year and expenditure of $60.28 million. It has net assets of $135.715 million. 

"Our performance is always much more than just dollars. We had a small increase in staff numbers last year as well as a slight increase in student numbers. That’s a real achievement, especially when we consider all the challenges we faced.

"Students are the heart of our business, so having our student numbers increase as well is also pleasing. That reflects our ability to respond to opportunities that arose from the pandemic. We're focussing squarely on some of the skill areas increasingly needed in New Zealand - now and into the future.

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"The board is enormously proud of our SIT staff and management and the way they navigated the unprecedented challenges of the last year. SIT students achieved a 100 per cent pass rate in the nursing state finals, something that continues to amaze me given that nursing student placements were affected by lockdowns and everything was so disrupted.  

"Despite all that, we saw impressive efforts from students, staff and management across all our faculties and campuses and that’s reflected in the numbers and results at pretty much every level."

Those results also include overall student satisfaction of 94 per cent – the same rate as recorded in the previous, pre-Covid year. 

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"Southland is now moving towards a post-smelter future, bringing with it a whole range of training needs and opportunities," Broad says. 

"SIT is very strongly placed to face those challenges and we will do this from a strong position in terms of financial resources, our people and our facilities."