By STACEY BODGER education reporter
Tertiary institutions will get more money for each Maori and Pacific Island student next year to attract more of them to tertiary study.
Over the next four years, $18 million will be given to public institutions to improve support services for existing Maori and Pacific Island students and to lift new enrolments.
Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey announced the plan at the Auckland Tertiary Equity Committee 2000 conference yesterday.
Institutions will receive special supplementary grants for each Maori and Pacific Island student enrolled.
They will be required to report annually on how they use the extra money.
Maori and Pacific Island students make up 13.3 per cent of the 208,000 students enrolled at public institutions.
The University of Auckland has two Maori and Pacific Island equity advisers, who provide on-campus support for students and liaise with academic staff. Special courses are also run to assist those students with study skills and prepare them for university-level study.
Mr Maharey said that although many tertiary institutions had for many years invested in services to support Maori and Pacific Island students, the level of response was not the same across the sector.
From 2002, institutions will also have to report on education outcomes for those students.
"By any indicator, Maori and Pacific peoples are under-represented in tertiary education.
"The Government is determined to close educational gaps," he said.
Race Relations Conciliator Rajen Prasad supported the move, saying greater support for such students was needed.
Dr Prasad was recently criticised by Prime Minister Helen Clark when he warned that a controversial Treaty of Waitangi clause in proposed health legislation risked inciting racial disharmony.
But he said yesterday that the education initiative was not discriminatory, even though it targeted specific racial groups.
Maori University Students' Association president Danica Waiti supported recognition that disparities existed in tertiary education and said the money would be a significant step towards addressing the participation and retention of Maori and Pacific Island students.
Herald Online feature: Closing the Gaps
$18m support package for education gap
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