It is ¡°too early to tell¡± whether New Zealand¡¯s indigenous participation drive has been a success, with the ¡°law of unintended consequences¡± militating against efforts to boost M¨¡ori attainment, an Australasian forum has heard.

New Zealand¡¯s government has rolled out additional funding to foster M¨¡ori participation in education, most recently through a 0. 3 per cent boost to teaching subsidies in last month¡¯s budget. But Victoria University of Wellington vice-chancellor Nic Smith questioned whether the extra money was enough to ¡°move the dial¡±.

Regulatory action to boost attainment could prove equally unproductive, he warned, citing the Tertiary Education Commission¡¯s 2030 deadline for M¨¡ori and Pacific islander students to achieve the same subject pass rates as their counterparts of European heritage.

¡°I could achieve that¡­by reducing entry [and] focusing only on M¨¡ori [and] Pacific students who come from what we refer to in New Zealand as high decile schools ¨C and thereby not move the dial in any material way,¡± Professor Smith told the THE Campus Live ANZ event at The University of Queensland.

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He advocated a more ¡°utopian¡± approach to challenges such as indigenous educational participation. Universities had the know-how not only to effect change but also to judge what changes would have most impact, he said. Funding arrangements should allow them and their local communities ¡°to do that the best way, and to judge by the end results¡±.

University of Queensland vice-chancellor Deborah Terry said local communities had a key role to play in solving society¡¯s ¡°wicked problems¡±. But this would not happen if universities kept ¡°coming in¡­as if we¡¯ve got all the answers¡±.

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¡°It¡¯s a two-way discussion,¡± Professor Terry told the conference. ¡°It¡¯s being¡­prepared to get out there, share information and have conversations [that] contribute back into the evidence base. We need to be out there more, hearing what the issues are. Institutions like ours [have] great convening power. We can bring teams together.¡±

The conference heard that a public focus on things such as vice-chancellors¡¯ pay and international students¡¯ treatment as ¡°cash cows¡± undermined the ¡°authenticity¡± of universities¡¯ efforts to improve educational equity. But Professor Smith said it was misguided to imagine that vice-chancellors had a ¡°pot of gold¡± to lavish on equity programmes.

He said universities faced ¡°increasingly defined and regulated¡± constraints on their spending.

Their role lay not so much in resourcing equity initiatives as ¡°elevating the discussion¡± to demonstrate ¡°why equity and diversity is so significant¡±.

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¡°Demographic trends are changing¡­in the same way [as] climate change, mental health and social cohesion,¡± he said. ¡°If we¡¯re not ahead of those trends, by the time they impact on us it will be far too late.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com ?