Te Wānanga o Aotearoa honours two founders with new scholarships in 2024

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa scholarship committee chair Joe Valenti at the 2023 award ceremony.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is honouring two founders with new scholarships.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa relaunched its scholarships in 2023, and in 2024 announced the introduction of three new scholarships, two of which honour a couple of the institute’s founding members.

The scholarships are intended to help support tauira (students) with the financial challenges that can come with tertiary education.

Many of the scholarships are named after rangatira who helped pave the way for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa to become the well-respected and uniquely Māori tertiary provider it is today.

In 1983 in Te Awamutu, Te Iwi Kohuru (Boy) Mangu (a Māori Studies teacher) and Rongo Wetere (then a member of the Te Awamutu College board) were concerned about the number of students, particularly Māori, being expelled from Te Awamutu College. They resolved to build a wharenui on the college grounds and to involve a group of expelled students in its construction. By providing these rangatahi an outlet for creativity and the opportunity to learn in a te ao Māori context, they hoped to make a difference in their futures, ultimately leading to the current vision: Whānau transformation through education.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa founder Rongo Wetere.

Te Tumuaki Rongo H Wetere Scholarship recognises a tauira Māori who is the first in their whānau to study at a tertiary level. Naming this scholarship for the first and only Tumuaki of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, recognises the important role he played for many tauira Māori, to get them back on the path of education. Tauira Māori studying any programme are eligible.

Boy Mangu Mātauranga Māori Waharoa Scholarship recognises a tauira who demonstrates their commitment to the advancement of mātauranga Māori by studying a mātauranga programme. Mangu spent much of his career encouraging tauira to learn about the importance of te ao Māori, and deeply valued the importance of mātauranga Māori for everyone in Aotearoa, especially those who were disengaged from mainstream education.

The third new scholarship is the Te Pou Postgraduate Diploma Kaitiakitanga L8 Scholarship which is awarded to a registered health professional who is enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Kaitiakitanga L8 programme.

Scholarship applications are open from Monday, April 1 to Sunday, June 30 and tauira are welcome to apply for any they are eligible for. Different eligibility criteria apply to the various scholarships.