Proposals to ditch 'open entry' questioned by Maori Party
Dr Pita Sharples, Co-leader of the Maori Party
Wednesday 5 December 2007
The Maori Party believes that the proposal from the University of Auckland to abandon their open entry policy, and the
suggestion from Victoria University that they also consider capping entry to some courses, represents a real threat to
Maori tertiary education.
"What all the stats tell us is that degree level participation by Maori is low and has even decreased recently" said Dr
Pita Sharples, Tertiary Education spokesperson for the Maori Party.
"In fact, Ka Hikitia, the Government's Draft Maori Education Strategy specifically promotes the need to increase the
number of Maori entering into and completing degree level qualifications, both as school leavers and adult learners"
said Dr Sharples.
"Cutting off access to under-graduate courses flies in the face of both community demand and current 'government-speak'"
said Dr Sharples.
"The Maori Party has consistently promoted the need to increase system performance for Maori in order to ensure
equitable outcomes" said Dr Sharples.
"Tangata whenua have long recognised that our three whare wananga are constantly out-performing universities on
educational outcome data - participation, retention and completion rates" said Dr Sharples.
"And yet current data reports that most Maori taking up degrees, do so at universities (63%)" said Dr Sharples. "The
problem is that there are low completion rates for Maori undertaking their degrees in university settings - so the
question must be asked as to why?"
"Most Maori enrol in the field of 'society and culture' for their tertiary study (40%) - and so there are obvious
concerns around restricted entry for degrees in arts, education, theology and law are all areas where Maori are likely
to be affected".
"We would urge institutions to look carefully at the participation patterns and experience of Maori in tertiary
education, before they instigate radical new moves such as we are hearing about in Auckland and Wellington".
"It's clear that government and universities need to work together to ensure the best possible outcomes for Maori
students" said Dr Sharples.
"The concerns of Maori need to be taken seriously here. We were pleased to hear Auckland University Vice-Chancellor,
Stuart McCutcheon, express his commitment towards the university meeting its equity objectives for students from
under-represented groups" said Dr Sharples.
"We will be watching very carefully to ensure that Mr McCutcheon honours his commitment to create assessment criteria
which are fair and equitable" said Dr Sharples.
ENDS