Wananga picking up Maori postgraduates
Thursday 4th August, 2011
A Maori academic is warning that Maori postgraduate study could move out of universities and into the wananga sector.
Rawiri Taonui says the number of Maori doing master’s and doctoral degrees round the country is too low, given the demand there is not only nationally but internationally for well-qualified Maori.
He says the only wananga currently offering postgraduate courses is Te Whare Wananga o Aotearoa, which has 180 students at MA and PhD level and he'd reject suggestions from university rivals that it is giving out soft degrees.
“They're getting more enrolments because they have a better cultural context. It’s less threatening, less undermining and probably a lot more supportive than the universities and I think a large part of our postgraduate research degree development is going to take place in the wananga because there are less cultural barriers there,” Dr Taonui says.
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