17 May 2002

Budget 2002

Whare wananga are to receive $1.25 million in new funding for projects to help them respond more effectively to economic growth and social development needs, Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey and Associate Education Minister Parekura Horomia announced today.

The funding comes from the Tertiary Education Strategic Change Fund established last year to provide one-off grants for tertiary institutions to adapt to the changing tertiary education system. Public tertiary institutions were invited to submit applications for funding from the Strategic Change Fund and the funds were allocated according to their share of the overall student roll.

Allocations to whare wananga are:
- Te Whare Wananga O Awanuiarangi, 111,736;
- Te Wananga O Aotearoa, 935,645; and
- Te Wananga O Raukawa, 205,564.

The Ministers said that an additional $10 million is provided for in next week’s budget to ensure continuous improvement in future years. A share of this funding will be available to tertiary organisations and others on a contestable basis.

“Maori need a more coordinated and coherent tertiary education sector, strongly linked with local industries and the community. The funding announced today supports our whare wananga to achieve this goal.

“The tertiary education sector has been through a difficult decade of declining public investment and a single-minded focus on student enrolments. The time has long since come to get some strategy back into the system.

“The use of technologies is important for Maori so students can catch the Knowledge Wave. Students also need to make the best use of this technology and the SCF can support students to do so. The projects being funded by the Strategic Change Fund will support wananga and other tertiary institutions in delivering that change.

“One project involves the development of a CD-Rom production unit at Te Wananga O Raukawa to support Marae Based Studies. The unit will produce high quality video, internet and graphical content published on CD-Rom, with the eventual aim of using CD-Roms as a strategic delivery platform for training and information material to students and staff.

“One of Te Wananga O Aotearoa’s projects will establish a collaborative agreement with another tertiary provider to offer further opportunities for Maori to achieve Early Childhood Education qualifications. Other projects involve researching and developing a programme targeting mature Maori to address literacy and numeracy needs, and developing a programme using multi-media delivery to take Te Reo Maori into homes and workplaces throughout the country.

“Te Whare Wananga O Awanuiarangi has received funding for a project to assess how information technology can be best used to benefit students and staff, and a collaboration project with Victoria University to provide greater access to IT studies.

“By using technology and working collaboratively with other institutions, these types of projects help to open up greater educational opportunities for Maori and achieve valuable efficiencies. Technology is key to providing access to educational opportunities in the more remote areas of the country and ensuring more Maori are able to benefit from learning through wananga,” Parekura Horomia said.

Steve Maharey said projects funded by the Strategic Change Fund will support the goals of New Zealand’s first Tertiary Education Strategy, which was released earlier this week.

“These funding decisions demonstrate that the Government is prepared to back the Strategy with significant additional funding,” Steve Maharey said.

Ends

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