12 TE PŪRONGO 2013
A brief history
Founded in 1983, the organisation originally
provided local training and education options
as an alternative to the mainstream education
providers of the time. The Waipā Kōkiri Arts
Centre (as it was then known) quickly became
popular with young people who recognised
an opportunity to gain the skills they needed
while learning in a nurturing and supportive
environment.
Throughout the 1980s, the Centre significantly
increased Māori participation at tertiary level by
taking education to the people, opening facilities
in rural towns throughout the Waikato region and
South Auckland. Changing our name to Aotearoa
Institute in 1989, we began applying for tertiary
status as a wānanga. We received this recognition
in 1993 (after an amendment was made to the
Education Act 1989) and changed our name to
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
During the early 2000s, we experienced a period
of explosive growth as tauira rushed to join our
hugely popular programmes. Key among these
were programmes that provided stepping stones
into tertiary education, established foundation
education skills, relinked tauira with their culture
and motivated them towards employment.
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa quickly became the
largest tertiary institution in the country, growing
from 1,008 tauira in 1999 to 66,756 in 2004.
This rapid growth tested our systems and in
2005 the government appointed a Crown
Manager to work with kaimahi to consolidate the
organisation. This work was completed in 2008
and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa turned its focus
to increasing tauira success and implementing
quality systems that were fit for the future and
founded on mātauranga Māori.
For the period 2008 to 2013 we continued
to reinforce that position by introducing new
qualifications from certificate to masters level,
increasing tauira success and implementing
quality systems that reflected tikanga Māori and
āhuatanga Māori. In 2013, 31,808 tauira chose
to enrol with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, seeking to
engage in an innovative and rewarding way of
learning.
The future
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa continues to explore
what it means to be a 21st Century, values-
driven, Māori organisation that is at the forefront
of indigenous development. We seek to revisit
‘traditional ways of being and doing’ in search of
effective strategies that will assist us to realise
our 2030 Strategic Attributes.
whakamahukitanga
Organisational profile
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BU I LD ADAPT SUCCEED
