Student symposium Tūwhitia! Transforming Tertiary symposium, hosted in Ōtautahi Christchurch by the University of Canterbury last month, showed a cross-sector commitment to removing barriers for students and achieving equity.
Tertiary education across the country doesn’t always fit the needs of aspiring students. Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa and other tertiary providers aspire to support existing students and improve in the areas of enrolment and course completion. However, many students still face barriers, particularly Māori, Pacific, disabled and low-income learners.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students and Global Engagement Dr Tere McGonagle-Daly, Provost Professor Giselle Byrnes, Executive Director Student Experience Amy Heise, and Director of Pacific Student Success Melvin Apulu attended the two-day symposium on behalf of Massey.
Dr McGonagle-Daly says the symposium was a great event to acknowledge the issues we face in the tertiary education sector, and demonstrate a joint commitment to addressing obstacles and achieving equity for all students.
“To achieve this aspiration, we have all had to take a hard look at our systems and put the most under-served students at the heart of everything we do. What became apparent in the symposium was that we need to implement a whole-of-system approach to learner success, which requires Tertiary Education Organisers (TEOs) and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to work collaboratively to reach this goal.”
“The symposium was a great opportunity to share ideas with other universities and see what initiatives had worked for some and fell short for others.”
Massey’s five-year strategic initiative Pūrehuroatanga stood out for its university-wide approach, aiming to remove institutional barriers as well as providing targeted, proactive and data-driven support for learners who need it.
“While all TEO’s are prioritising student success, in ways that speak to their learner cohorts and mission, Pūrehuroatanga was seen as distinctive in that we are taking a ‘whole of institution’ approach,” adds Dr McGonagle-Daly.
Professor Byrnes says, “We are focussing on identifying and eliminating barriers to student success; retention, progression and completion as defined by the TEC’s Education Performance Indicators. We are also investing in academic staff development and curriculum transformation so are bringing together the work inside the classroom as well as outside the curriculum. We have hugely talented teachers at Massey, and we want to celebrate their good practice.”
Dr McGonagle-Daly says that Massey’s data analytics and intervention logic is clear.
“As well as our leadership being clearly and visibly engaged and, as per our name ‘Pūrehuroatanga’, which stems from our university’s name ‘Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa’, our focus on student success is authentic, organic, and driven by our commitment to equity and excellence, and our ambition to work towards being a Te Tiriti o Waitangi-led university.”
The symposium will become an annual sector-wide event and sits alongside a developing community of practice across providers to ensure that sector-level equity is strived for.
