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This strategy includes a focus on increasing the proportion of Pasifika staff at all levels of decision-making in the tertiary education system. This includes a focus on management and governance as well as teaching staff.

At this stage, the only available information on staffing by ethnicity relates to teaching staff. This information comes from the New Zealand Census. No information on ethnicity of staff is collected systematically within the tertiary education system.

Low proportion of tertiary teaching workforce are Pasifika

It would appear that Pasifika teaching staff are significantly under-represented compared with the proportion of Pasifika students. There appears to have been an increase in the proportion of Pasifika staff from 1996 to 2002, but it still lags behind the proportion of Pasifika students.

The Census shows that within the Tertiary Teaching Professional occupational category, 1.0 percent of tertiary teachers in 1996 were Pasifika. This rose to 1.5 percent in 2001. This compares with 3.6 percent and 5.5 percent of students in respective years.

Pasifika staff report significant workload issues, as they are required to provide support and mentoring for students and maintain connections with Pasifika communities, as well as teaching and/or research.

Potential for increased recruitment

Pasifika completions at degree and postgraduate level (both domestic and international) provide an indication of the future pool of qualified Pasifika graduates who may be able to teach in tertiary education. From 1997 to 2001, there was a steady increase in completion of degrees by all Pasifika students, but this levelled off in 2002. Completion of PhDs by all Pasifika students in the same period has fluctuated, with an overall growth in numbers over the period. From 2001 to 2002, the number of Pasifika students completing PhDs fell.

Figure 66: Degree and postgraduate qualification completions by Pasifika students, 1997–2002

In 2002, there were 1,100 Pasifika students who graduated with a degree or postgraduate qualification. This is more than five times the number of Pasifika Tertiary Teaching Professionals recorded in the 2001 Census. This suggests that the challenge is for TEOs to attract and retain an increased number of Pasifika graduates as teaching staff.

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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