September 17, 2020
Partial settlement will help wānanga address research gap
Te Wānanga o Raukawa tumuaki Mereana Selby says a partial settlement of the wānanga’s Waitangi Tribunal Claim is an important acknowledgment it has been under-funded for too long.
Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis says the crown is providing $8 million over three years as additional support while work continues to develop a more sustainable long term funding solution.
Ms Selby says it’s important the unique qualities of wānanga are recognised.
She says its refusal in 2003 to accept the shift to performance based research funding – because it would push it into a western education framework – came at a cost.
"Over those 17 years we have been funded for our education provision but not for the very important research in whakatupu mātauranga that needs to go alongside that to inform our education provision so one of the issues for us is catch up right now, to try to beef up that part of our organisation to try to make up some of the lost ground," Ms Selby says.
She says the core purpose of the Ōtaki-based wānanga is to maximize its contribution to Māori as a people – which is different to the way a university would see itself.
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