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Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori Professor Meihana Durie, Rangitāne, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tahu, recently sat down for a wide-ranging kōrero at Te Rangimarie Marae in Manawatū. They discussed Massey’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the mahi and developments that are underway across the university, including our continued partnerships with the tangata whenua of our three campuses, our commitment to seeing students succeed and more.

Highlights from the video include:

Using education for a Te Tiriti journey

Professor Durie says the work completed in recent years uses education to bring people on their own Te Tiriti journey.

“One example is Ngā Kaiārahi Tiriti, a groundbreaking programme designed to meet our specific context and needs at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa. It embeds Te Tiriti education with Te Tiriti leadership in order to implement work that makes a useful contribution for our staff and students.”

Under the leadership of Pūkenga Tiriti, Associate Professor Veronica Tawhai, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Uepohatu, alongside colleagues Dr Rangimārie Mahuika, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Rarawa and Te Kōtuku Irwin-Stainton, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Oneone, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, the Te Tiriti leadership programme is going from strength to strength. With more than 30 Kaiārahi Tiriti (Treaty mentors) representing a range of areas across the university, the Kaiārahi teams participated in a number of Te Tiriti wānanga (workshops) and developed and implemented Te Tiriti workplans specific to their respective areas of academic and professional endeavour.

Other mahi includes the recent revision of the university’s Te Tiriti o Waitangi policy and hosting Māori graduation ceremonies.

Long term aspiration: Deliver degrees in te reo Māori and English

Professor Thomas, who is now a New Zealand citizen, acknowledged her own journey learning about Te Tiriti o Waitangi since moving to Aotearoa New Zealand. She is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Māori Knowledge and says she would like to see Massey aspire to offer degrees in te reo Māori as well as English.

“For me looking forward to our 20 year horizon, I would like to see our degrees being offered in te reo Māori and in English...so we start to live our official language of te reo through our education and graduate profile as well. We certainly do that for our kura kaupapa system, but wouldn’t it be exciting if we were able to to graduate a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History student in te reo Māori as a primary language? That would be very exciting for me.”

Professor Durie says the university is heading in that direction.

“Increasingly te reo is being infused and integrated into courses at the university and staff are becoming more comfortable in their commitment to te reo. There’s a desire from staff and students to learn and use te reo, and do it together which is remarkable. If I go back 20 years ago, the level of te reo was a lot less, so this commitment is good for Aotearoa and the nation...everyone has to do that heavy lifting in order to keep advancing our commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

Massey students represent almost every iwi in Aotearoa New Zealand

The university has students from every iwi in Aotearoa, and now when students enrol they can list all their iwi no matter how many they belong to.

“We have a huge responsibility that within their experience with us [Massey] they have every opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge their identity, whakapapa and heritage. We have students who have been raised only speaking te reo and we have a number of other ākonga Māori who are just at the beginning of their journey, so if we can play a role in their journey, it’s a positive outcome,” Professor Durie says.