The head of the body that represents Maori higher education students in New Zealand has welcomed the government’s decision to turn down a university’s application to increase student fees. Victoria University put in a bid to raise fees on some humanities, education and social science courses by 8 per cent, with the student group claiming that courses favoured by Maoris would be hard hit. “Maori learners want to engage and participate in tertiary education and succeed as Maori,” said Ivy Harper, Tumuaki (president) of Te Mana Akonga, the National Maori Tertiary Students’ Association. Such an increase “in programmes predominately undertaken by Maori and Pasifika (indigenous Pacific islanders) learners would have undermined all this, especially as Maori student debt continues to rise above NZ$2.3 billion [£1.2 billion],” she added.
Source: Times Higher Education http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=422099&c=1