May 21, 2014
Funding creates more scope for research
New funding in the budget for Maori research is being hailed as a chance to create a new framework for studying things of concern to Maori.
The $5 million a year from 2016 was added in response to uproar over the dropping of the existing centre, Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga, from the centres of research excellence of COREs funded by the Tertiary Education Commission.
A competitive tender will be held among Maori academic departments and research institutes to determine who will host the new Maori CORE.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Nga Pae’s original co-director and now director of Te Kotahi Research Institute at the University of Waikato, says it’s a chance to frame the new centre in a more Maori way.
" COREs as we knew them were really framed around science. So it was that old game of us trying to fit in and we did quite well in that game but it was always us trying to compromise in order to compete with non Maori colleagues. Whereas I think in this new opportunity it's basically a Maori CORE that gives us an opportunity to redesign around Maori as an essential element" she says.
Professor Smith says the development of the Maori economy means universities need to be producing graduates with a different range of skills than before.
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