Te Wānanga o Aotearoa

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is a wānanga (an indigenous tertiary education provider) in New Zealand. The organisation was established to improve the social and economic wellbeing of those who had previously had negative experiences with the secondary education system. As a Māori-led organisation grounded in Māori values, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is committed to the revitalisation of Māori cultural knowledge. It is also focused on breaking inter-generational cycles of non-participation in tertiary education to reduce poverty and eliminate associated social issues. The organisation works towards ‘whanau transformation through education’.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is currently one of the largest public tertiary education institutions in the nation and has been promoted as the largest indigenous peoples college in the world. The organisation delivers educational programmes to more than 35,000 students each year at more than 100 sites across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa was founded in 1983 to provide training and education for those whose needs were not being met by the mainstream education system. The genesis of what would become Te Wānanga o Aotearoa emerged as the brainchild of Te Awamutu College board of governors’ member Rongo Wetere and Māori Studies teacher Iwi Kohuru (Boy) Mangu. The two men wanted to provide a ‘marae of learning’ as an educational alternative for the large number of predominantly Māori students being expelled from Te Awamutu College. Their solution was to lead a group of these students to create a wharenui on the college’s grounds. The two men were joined in their endeavours by tohunga whakairo (master carvers) Pakariki Harrison and Mac Bell) and tohunga raranga (master weaver) Hinemoa Harrison. The resulting structure, O-Tāwhao Marae, was opened on 26 April 1985 and is still used to introduce students to te ao Māori (the world of Māori). Although the project encountered resistance at the time, O-Tāwhao is now recognised as an invaluable resource for the college and Te Awamutu community.

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