April 13, 2017
Maori NCEA up but UE rate slips
Maori are missing out on university in increasing numbers because they aren't passing the minimum qualification.
New data shows that while the mnumber of Maori secondary school students achieving NCEA Level 2 has gone up, the number getting university entrance is going down.
Only 31 percent of Maori and 30 percent of Pasifika students get UE, compared with almost 58 percent of Pakeha and 66 percent of Asian students,
Universities New Zealand executive director Chris Whelan says means that a significant proportion of Maori and Pasifika do not have the opportunity to take on university education, with the significant benefits that it brings to them and their families, and to New Zealand as a whole.
"For young people to succeed in today's world, you need education. In 2001 you probably needed a degree level education to get in to 36 percent of all jobs. Now it's up to 48 percent so we are failing future generations of Maori if we are not getting them onto that pathway to higher qualifications," he says.
Mr Whelan says fixing the problem will require work at many different levels, but the success of the Starpath programme in Auckland shows what can be achieved when students understand the choices they need to make to achieve their goals.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS WHELAN
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