Ako Aotearoa Announces National Project Funding

Media Release

Ako Aotearoa Announces First National Project Fund Recipients

This week, Ako Aotearoa – The National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence – announced its commitment of over $1.3 million dollars (including GST) to support projects that strategically improve tertiary teaching and learning.

Nine major projects join the three Doctoral Scholarship proposals announced last November to receive funding under the Centre’s National Project Fund, which was in operation for the first time last year.

The nine projects are spread over three streams of the fund, with five Research and Implementation, three Māori Initiative Projects, and one Collaboration Project being selected from the substantial pool of submitted proposals.

Spanning the diversity of the tertiary sector, the projects will involve Adult Community Education (ACE), Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs), Wānanga, and Universities. A number of the projects also involve cross-organisational and cross-sector collaborations.

The key goal of the fund is to enhance educational outcomes for learners, but in pursuit of this we are also looking to promote collaboration across and within different parts of the tertiary education sector, contribute to the development of a more coherent knowledge base of effective tertiary teaching and learning in Aotearoa – New Zealand, and build research capability and capacity.

Dr Peter Coolbear, Ako Aotearoa National Director is delighted with the outcome of the funds first round, stating “The projects we have agreed to support are first rate and have every potential to successfully meet the aims and goals of the fund. They are either implementation projects designed to have direct impact on improving teaching and learning, or important pieces of use-inspired research.”

“The selection panels have done an excellent and careful job of identifying projects that not only best align with the vision of Ako Aotearoa, but also have the capacity to build on existing knowledge, have the potential to lead to benefit to learners, have extremely capable teams, and offer overall value-for-money.” he says

National Project Fund 2008 Recipients
All figures are inclusive of GST

Research and Implementation Projects - Total = $547k

Assessing Hauora Māori in Medical Students in Clinical Settings
$140k

Dr Rhys Jones (Contact Project Leader), University of Auckland;

Best Practice in Supervisor Feedback to Thesis Writers in New Zealand Universities
$95k

Professor John Bitchener (Contact Project Leader), AUT University

Dedicated Education Unit: Enhancing Clinical Teaching and Learning
$105k

Dr Willem Fourie, Manukau Institute of Technology (Contact Project Leader)

Engaging Learners Effectively in Science, Technology and Engineering: The Pathway from Secondary to University Education
$97k

Professor Tim Parkinson (Contact Project Leader), Massey University

ITO Workplace Assessment Structures
$110k

Nicholas Huntington (Contact Project Leader), Industry Training Federation

Māori Initiative Projects - Total = $419k

Exploring Community and Whanau-Based Learning Strategies to Promote the Safe Practice and Use of Taranaki Reo and Tikanga away from Learning Environments
$149k

Deleraine Puhara (Contact Project Leader), Te Kupenga Mātauranga o Taranaki

Tātou Tāou/Success for All: Improving Māori Student Success in Health Professional Degree-Level Programmes
$125k

Dr Elana Curtis (Contact Project Leader), University of Auckland

Te Kāwai Kūmara ­–A Pilot for the Synchronous Delivery of a Common Postgraduate Programme in te reo Māori Across Multiple Sites
$145k

Professor Tania Ka’ai (Contact Project Leader), AUT University

Collaboration Project - Total = $27k

Te Hononga Mātauranga
$27k

Dr Te Kani Kingi (Contact Project Leader), Massey University.

ENDS

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