On March 2, Minister of Education Trevor Mallard appointed a representative to manage TWOA’s funds. The school administration acquiesced because of the financial pressure the government was applying, including cutting off its access to overdraft and borrowing facilities.

This follows the government threatening last year that it would review educational scholarships for Maori and other affirmative action gains won through past struggles. In another attack, parliament has passed controversial legislation denying Maori proprietorship over coastal lands.

The government moved against the TWOA following a series of headline-grabbing allegations made in parliament by Kenneth Shirley, of the Act Party, who accused TWOA’s management of misusing government funds to enrich themselves and their families. Shirley made his claims under parliamentary privilege, through which politicians can make sweeping assertions without fear of legal challenge.

Shirley targeted a literacy course for adults that TWOA is developing in conjunction with an educational institute in Cuba. Shirley claimed the course was sold to TWOA for “an extraordinary seven-figure sum” by Marcia Krawll, the fiancée of TWOA chief executive Rongo Wetere.

Wetere replied in an advertisement that “no purchase price was ever paid to anyone” for this course, and that the Cuban Ministry of Education pays the salaries of the nine literacy experts in this country assisting with the “Greenlight” program.

TWOA representatives have also forcefully answered the other allegations.

Along with Maori-language kindergartens and schools, TWOA and two other wananga were established in the wake of a rise in Maori struggles in the 1970s and 1980s. Those protests targeted institutional racism, the alienation of Maori lands, and the suppression of Maori language and culture.

Rongo Wetere and others set up the wananga in 1983. “Back then just 1 to 1.5 percent of all tertiary students were Maori, despite making up more than 20 percent of school-leavers,” Wetere told the New Zealand Herald on February 19.

In 1998 Wetere lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of TWOA and the other two wananga. The complaint resulted in a $NZ40 million settlement and ongoing government funding ($US1 = NZ0.72). The tribunal hears claims from Maori for land and other stolen resources.

Since that settlement, Te Wananga o Aotearoa has become the country’s largest tertiary (university level) institution, with over 66,000 students. It teaches a range of subjects. Courses on Maori language and culture, literacy, and computer skills are among the most popular. Many of its students study at home by correspondence.

In 2003, more than half of all Maori students participating in tertiary education were enrolled at TWOA. A Herald article noted “the wananga has almost single-handedly lifted Maori participation in tertiary education from below average to an extraordinary 23 percent of Maori aged 15 and over.”

The average age of students is 33 and most are women. Its courses attract working people who are not Maori as well. Nearly 52 percent of students enrolled at the wananga last year were non-Maori. Unlike other tertiary institutions, TWOA provides free courses for the majority of its students.

The expansion of TWOA has come as the government follows its predecessors in seeking to cut back the provision of publicly funded education. Tertiary institutions now compete more fiercely with each other. They each seek to recruit greater numbers of students and thereby qualify for more of the limited government funding. Because of its size, TWOA receives a larger portion of state funding than almost all tertiary institutions.

Education minister Mallard and others claim that TWOA is not a “real university” and that its certificates and diplomas should be downgraded. As he appointed a manager to take over control of TWOA’s finances, Mallard announced a review of courses in the tertiary sector that don’t lead to a degree qualification, which the Herald reported is “expected to lead to funding shifts” next year. Most of TWOA’s courses fall into this category. Mallard also said he wanted TWOA scaled back to concentrate on teaching Maori language and customs to Maori. It should look more like the other two wananga, he said.

According to the Herald, Wetere “said enrollments at other wananga were as low as 2,500 and his would not accept being culled to that size… Students were entitled to choice and the government had no right to restrict the courses being offered, including those to non-Maori.”

These probes against TWOA are not new. “We had had six audits in the past 18 months,” said Wetere. “We are the most audited organization in the country.” The auditor-general’s office is currently conducting another audit, which will include looking into Shirley’s allegations.

Unable at this stage to get any of the mud slinging to stick, the government has begun to negotiate with TWOA on how long the manager will be in financial control and on the number and racial mix of its students. In return, Wetere has said the wananga will no longer call itself a university. Following the attacks on TWOA, the institution has suffered a 30 percent drop in enrollments.  
 
 
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