Te Puni Kōkiri expanded its scholarship programme at the Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) to include painting, tiling, brick and block-laying, landscape construction, and plumbing and gas fitting.

WelTec Chief Executive Linda Sissons says the expansion is in anticipation of a demand for trained staff required to rebuild Christchurch and address the leaky homes problem.

“We already have an existing partnership with Te Puni Kōkiri and the Electrotechnology ITO to offer scholarships to students who want to pursue a career in that industry. This has worked well and led onto apprenticeships.”

The number of Māori enrolled at WelTec in 2011 was up a little over three per cent, compared to 2010. WelTec’s collaborative initiative alongside Te Ati Awa iwi, Tamaiti Whāngai, is available to Māori students studying at the Petone campus.

Linda says many of the Tamaiti Whāngai students are out-performing their peers. Seventy-nine per cent of Tamaiti Whāngai students completed their course in 2010. In the same year, the total WelTec student population achieved a 75 per cent course completion rate.

“While this type of programme is resource-intensive to run, we get great results for a group that may not do so well otherwise. We have the support of iwi who have mentors on-site helping students. These mentors are also employees of WelTec.”

Te Puni Kōkiri Regional Director, Hata Wilson says “Te Puni Kōkiri continues to support this scholarship programme because we support our students through scholarships as they see the positive outcomes, measurable in terms of course and qualification completion rates and employment.”

Visit the WelTec website for more information about courses and scholarships, www.weltec.ac.nz