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A unique aspect of the New Zealand tertiary education system is the provision of kaupapa Māori tertiary education. This is education delivered by Māori for Māori, that reflects a Māori view of the world. It has a critical role to play in contributing to Māori social and economic development. The TES includes a focus on ensuring the availability of robust options for kaupapa Māori tertiary education.

Strong growth of wānanga

There are three wānanga which are established as public tertiary education institutions: Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Te Wānanga o Raukawa, and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. The wānanga provide a Māori-based tertiary education across a range of areas.

Student enrolments in the wānanga grew exponentially from 1999 to 2002, with the largest growth in numbers being in Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. As at 31 July 2002, the wānanga had nine percent of all formal tertiary enrolments and 35 percent of Māori enrolments.

Figure 52: Formal tertiary students enrolled in wānanga, July 1994–2002

In 2002, the majority of wānanga students (97 percent) were studying for programmes below degree level. This reflects, in particular, the focus of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa on providing foundation education in life skills and te reo Māori. Almost three-quarters of formal students in wānanga were women and 80 percent were aged over 25 years. Seventy-six percent of all students were studying part-time and nearly half were studying through extramural courses.

Figure 53: Formal tertiary students enrolled in wānanga by age group and gender, July 2002

In 2002, over half of wānanga students were enrolled in mixed-field programmes, and a further 40 percent in programmes in the area of society and culture, which includes te reo Māori.

Figure 54: Formal tertiary students enrolled in wānanga by field of study, July 2002

Capability of Māori private training establishments developed

As at October 2003, there were 162 registered and National Qualifications Framework accredited private training establishments that self-identified as being Māori providers. This was a net increase of eight since 1 January 2000. During this period there has been moderate turnover in Māori providers through openings and closures. In the twelve months to October 2003, there were three new registrations and 16 de-registrations. As at October 2003, there were six applications under consideration. The proportion of new registrations was considerably lower than for all PTEs in the same period, while the proportion of de-registrations was slightly higher.

Eight percent of Māori PTEs (that have been registered for more than six months) are on audit cycles of less than one year, for reasons of quality concerns. This is more than twice the proportion for all PTEs. Twenty-five percent of Māori PTEs were on audit cycles of two or more years, indicating robust and stable processes, compared with 43 percent of all PTEs.

The NZQA has established a unit which provides support to build the capacity of Māori providers by establishing relationships with the providers at a local level and working co-operatively to raise levels of quality in education management delivery. In 2003, the NZQA was assisting 137 Māori providers, helping them to prepare for quality audits and to implement the recommendations that result from the audits.

Kaupapa Māori research strengthened

The establishment of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga – the National Institute of Research Excellence for Māori Development will provide a major centre of focus and strength for Māori research in the areas of education, health and science. The Institute will bring together Māori and western intellectual traditions and experience to generate new knowledge and technologies. Planned areas of research include:

• new building materials for cheaper, warmer housing
• young people’s views of schooling and society
• fundamental studies of the processes underlying diseases such as asthma and diabetes to which Māori are genetically disposed ¹.

The Institute is hosted by the University of Auckland and involves partnerships with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Otago, the University of Waikato and Landcare Research².

The research programme of the National Centre for Advanced Bio-Protection Technologies (also funded through the CoRE funding) includes a focus on ‘the area of Mātauranga Māori bio-protection, where researchers will develop agricultural technologies that value and sustain mātauranga and tikanga Māori’³.

¹ http://www.rsnz.org/funding/core/1stround.php (↑)

² http://www.tec.govt.nz/funding/core.htm (↑)

³ http://www.rsnz.org/funding/core/overview.php (↑)

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• Table of Contents

• The Baseline Picture

• Cross Strategy Indicators

• Raise foundation skills

• Skills for our knowledge society

• Strengthen research and knowledge creation

• Te rautaki mātauranga Māori

• Pacific people’s development and success

• Capability and quality

• Technical and Data Definitions