The National Programme for Māori and Indigenous Post-graduate Advancement

The Māori and Indigenous programme (MAI) is a nationally-organised network of key sites established throughout the country.

It forms an integral part of Te Pae Whakatairanga Hiranga, which is the Capability Building programme of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.

MAI is focused on the accelerated development of Māori and Indigenous Doctoral graduates in the national interest.

While this initiative is overseen by the Capability Building programme of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, each site has a strong autonomy of function and operation within the framework provided by the objectives and strategies of the programme as a whole.

History

The MAI programme had its early beginnings in the 1990s when Professors Graham and Linda Smith of the Education Department of the University of Auckland began regular mentoring sessions for Māori post-graduate students. Subsequently, from the Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori Office, Graham with the valuable contributions of Te Tuhi Robust, involved a wider range of departments. The numbers enrolled for PhD or EdD degrees have grown steadily since. While similar initiatives were under development in other parts of the country, it was the establishment of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga as a Centre of Research Excellence (in late 2002) and the guidance of Professor Linda Smith that has facilitated the development of Te Kupenga o MAI, the national network.

Vision and Mission

A broad aim is to reach, over a five-year period, a total of 500 Māori who have either completed a PhD or who are enrolled in a research doctoral programme.

A key intention is to foster this talent pool to sustain a consciousness toward Māori development and advancement.

The programme seeks to enhance the capacity and capability for intellectual leadership to assist the social, economic and cultural transformation of iwi and communities.

Objectives

• Facilitate transitions across different levels of the tertiary system.
• Increase the number of earned research degrees.
• Increase the number of qualified and skilled researchers.
• Increase the number of quality academic teachers and supervisors.
• Establish a national database of Māori doctoral students and researchers.
• Enhance institutional infrastructures to strengthen the capacity for Māori research.
• Strengthen the capacity of researchers and Māori communities to engage with and learn from one another.
• Facilitate national and international networking and collaboration.
• Support the development of career and leadership-related skills.
• Foster the development of policy formation and policy implementation skills.

Strategies

• A support and mentoring programme for individuals through the national network.
• A support and mentoring programme for Wānanga and other entities, to facilitate the development of research capacity through curriculum links, infrastructure & strategic planning.
• A curriculum of courses, seminars, lectures, conferences, retreats and workshops that are specifically designed for pre-doctoral through to post-doctoral levels and beyond.
• A system of grants and fellowships that ranges through all levels of the programme.
• Career and leadership training.
• International study and research opportunities.

Other Initiatives

Community Research Engagement

An ongoing programme to develop and enhance research interaction with Māori communities. Carried out through the MAI network in close collaboration with Wānanga.

The Database-to-Knowledge base project

This project aims to form a comprehensive database of Māori Scholars that can be accessed, used and shared among Māori students, researchers and iwi.

International Opportunities

Primarily through conference presentation support. However, networking with people in other countries continues to grow steadily.