Āwhina reloaded: Updated results from a programme for Māori and Pacific tertiary graduate and postgraduate success in science, engineering, and architecture and design
Māori and Pasifika Higher Education Horizons
ISBN: 978-1-78350-703-0, eISBN: 978-1-78350-704-7
Publication date: 4 April 2014
Abstract
Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders) and Pacific students tend not to attain the same levels of educational success as New Zealanders of European descent. Addressing this problem is a particular challenge at tertiary level in science, engineering, and architecture and design (SEAD). Te Rōpū Āwhina (Āwhina), an initiative at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), aims to produce Māori and Pacific professionals who contribute to Māori and Pacific development and leadership. The objective of this analysis was to summarise quantitative results from the first 11 years of Āwhina and to show they are consistent with an Āwhina ‘effect’; that is, a positive influence on (combined) Māori and Pacific success in the SEAD disciplines. Individual-level records held in the VUW student database were used to generate smoothed trends in SEAD and non-SEAD graduate and postgraduate degree completions since 1991. Substantial improvements in SEAD Māori and Pacific completions occurred between 1999 and 2010, including a 50%- increase in Māori and Pacific postgraduate completions relative to all SEAD postgraduate completions. In the same period, non-SEAD Māori and Pacific postgraduate completions increased at a similar rate to all non-SEAD postgraduate completions. Results were consistent with a strong Āwhina effect, which has important implications for the nature of tertiary institutions, their cultural and social disconnection with Indigenous and minority students, and their social obligations and responsiveness. This analysis did not account for students who did not complete a qualification or include key confounders such as entry qualifications and gender. Definitive confirmation of an Āwhina effect is the subject of ongoing research.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge past and present SEAD Management Team members and staff; the late Sir Paul Callaghan and The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology; and community supporters and sponsors for their ongoing support for Āwhina.
This work would not have been possible without the strong commitment of all Āwhina whānau members since 1999. We acknowledge and thank them for their significant contributions to making Āwhina what it is today.
Competing interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare.
Citation
Richardson, K., Tarr, A., Miller, S., Sibanda, N., Richardson, L., Mikaere, K., de Sain, S., Phillips, H. and Wei, V. (2014), "Āwhina reloaded: Updated results from a programme for Māori and Pacific tertiary graduate and postgraduate success in science, engineering, and architecture and design", Māori and Pasifika Higher Education Horizons (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 179-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420140000015017
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited