It is a privilege to present my
first annual report as Te Taiurungi
(Chief Executive) of Te Wānanga o
Aotearoa.
I was humbled and honoured by
the pōhiri that took place in late
October to welcome me into the
whānau of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa
as their new leader. I remain
grateful for the display of tikanga,
mātauranga Māori, passion and
commitment that I witnessed
at the time. It was a powerful
demonstration of the philosophy
and values that are embedded in
our organisation.
At the outset of my appointment
it was essential for me to travel
throughout the country to meet our
people and to see first-hand the
significant work that is delivered to
provide ‘Whānau transformation
through education’. Our kaimahi
are dedicated, loyal, passionate
and are deeply connected to the
educational journey of our tauira.
It is this commitment that has
ensured the continued strong
performance that characterises
this year’s annual report. 2013 was
another year of strong performance
and financial surplus for Te
Wānanga o Aotearoa.
In 2013, our 1,429 kaimahi
supported 31,808 tauira
throughout Aotearoa to achieve
their educational aspirations.
In doing so, we met and often
exceeded our Tertiary Education
Commission targets. Our course
completion rate was 81% and our
qualification completion rate of
81% exceeded the Investment Plan
target of 73%. Our retention rate
was 75% and our progression rate
was 42%.
It is also pleasing to report that we
continue to increase the numbers
of under 25 year olds who enrol
in our organisation. This saw the
numbers increase to 4,826 tauira
in 2013. High youth unemployment
and the under-performance of
particularly young Māori and Pacific
youth in secondary school pose
ongoing productivity issues for
this country. It is imperative that
education and training solutions
are provided to re-invigorate and
pathway youth to employment or
further education. We are proud to
provide a powerful contribution to
what is a nationwide problem.
For the 2013 financial year a
group surplus of $4.03 million was
achieved. While this is a strong
outcome, this amount was down
on the surplus of 2012 and reflects
the ongoing impact of Crown policy
that has capped EFTS numbers
for our organisation since 2007.
For more than seven years we
have worked to absorb the effects
of inflation and the inevitable
increases in the cost of serving our
tauira. We are now reaching the
end of our organisation’s ability to
continue to do so which is a strong
signal that we need to adapt the
way in which we operate.
The added pressure of government
policy and an absolute reluctance
by our organisation to increase
fees or to begin charging fees
on a greater number of our
programmes, has been the catalyst
for the implementation of an
organisational refinement and
transformation programme which
will be completed over a two year
period from 2014.
The strategic destination of Te
Wānanga o Aotearoa is ‘Whānau
transformation through education’.
The process builds on and aligns
with key themes derived from
a series of strategic planning
hui held with Ngā Kaihautū (the
executive leadership team) to
reflect on our current position
and robustly review our future
direction. The outputs from those
planning sessions included five key
areas of focus for the next three
years. These are:
Educational excellence
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa will
provide educational excellence,
from programme design to
programme delivery, which
includes quality teaching and
learning methodologies and
practices. Our tauira must
experience excellence during their
educational journey so that they
can thrive.
Course
completion
Qualification
completion
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
9
TE PŪRONGO 2013
