Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi continues to develop a range of educational opportunities designed to meet the needs of Māori and all students who are seeking excellent qualifications and skills for employment, for cultural competencies, for professional, for long-term careers, and as contributors to New Zealand society and the world.
This institution is a Whare Wānanga (House of Higher Learning). The term “Whare” in our title is distinctive within the Wānanga sector: it embraces the original founding aspiration to provide high quality educational opportunities at all levels within the tertiary arena. The breadth of our learning provision is necessarily expansive given the needs of our communities of interest and therefore extends from marae and community based learning programmes to graduate programmes at Masters and Doctoral levels. The focus of our graduate programmes is on the theme of Māori development and advancement which in turn are benchmarked to a wider body of international indigenous research activity and qualifications.
While Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi aspires to be like a University, it does not necessarily want to be a university in respect of the legislated definition. Awanuiārangi is concerned to ensure that education through these academic pursuits is enabled through a culturally affirming pedagogy and learning environment and is to this end involved in research, teaching and publication.
Tertiary study at Awanuiārangi is supported by a vibrant academic community led by an impressive number of Māori PhD qualified staff and supported by an adjunct faculty of national and international experts – all committed to assisting students to successfully fulfill their learning aspirations while simultaneously developing Awanuiārangi as an outstanding site for Māori scholarship.
Focusing on maintaining the unique characteristic elements of the Wānanga is a key priority as we grow culturally appropriate networks of provision with other like minded tertiary entities. We believe that educational success for Māori, where ever it can be attained is vital and that it is an important pre-requisite for a sustainable social and economic revolution within our communities. To this end, our new relationships with other tertiary providers is an important step forward to meeting that success.
Currently, Awanuiārangi is looking forward to modernising and developing its teaching and learning facilities, through the development of a leading edge learning-centred campus in Whakatāne, scheduled to begin soon.