By Will Trafford for Whakaata Maori
Three hundred students from low decile schools will receive full scholarships to Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (Canterbury University), from next year, as part of an initiative to make tertiary education more accessible, and its pool of graduates move diverse.
Eighty per
cent of current university scholarship recipients are from the wealthiest schools in the country. Unveiled by the university as part of it's 150-year birthday celebrations yesterday, the new scholarship (Te Kakau a Māui) is part of addressing that.
"Our vision is to close the equity gap in participation, retention and success rates between currently under-served ākonga and the general university population," Sacha McMeeking, executive director of Māori, Pacific and equity at the University of Canterbury, said.
"We want to inspire those students who may not have considered university as an option, who may be the first in their whānau to enrol, by covering their entire undergraduate degree course fees."
