Our Owners

Tika pumau ai te rangatiratanga mo nga uri whakatipu

Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, independence, and growth for future generations 

2016 marked the year that we launched our new education funding programme offering owners of NRAIT a broader option of grants and more targeted subject areas for our scholarships. This was to create greater accessibility to any member wanting to further their education, while also focusing on the jobs that Aotearoa needs people to be in.

The funding programme was extended to support all of the hapū in any educational advancement including funding support for trades training, te reo and other adult education, as well as learning support for tamariki in secondary and primary school through organisations like Kip McGrath.

We did however have a focus with the scholarships this year on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). STEM subjects are the future required skills and knowledge our whānau need to fulfil jobs, innovate and create new products and services. Aotearoa currently has a skill shortage in these subject areas.

Recently we had the pleasure of announcing our 2016 scholarship winners, in which we awarded four inspiring individuals. These members study the subjects that our country and our hapū need, at New Zealand tertiary institutions.

Scholarship winners

Matua Jansen

Matua was our Supreme Scholarship winner, granted to him for his work towards studying a post graduate MBA. After graduating from Auckland Medical School in 2008 with distinction Matua took an offer to complete his work placement at Sydney’s Liverpool Hospital. Matua feels that his next logical step is to complete a MBA at Auckland University to further his career development and help him gain the necessary business skills to eventually become a NRAIT Trustee.

Benjamin Kaveney-Gibb

Benjamin is one of three winners of the tertiary scholarship. This award grants him a maximum contribution of $2000 p.a. to help him fund his studies. Ben is enrolled at the University of Otago, studying first year Health Science and hopes to be accepted to further study medicine in 2017. He has always had a natural tendency to care for people and it seemed right to him to lean towards study in a health-related field.

Jozef Benge

Jozef is another recipient of the tertiary scholarship. Jozef has been studying at Victoria University and is about to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations and his overall goal is to become a journalist to help Aotearoa understand the inspirational stories of our whānau, and to help change the misrepresentation of our tangata in the media. Jozef has a keen interest in creating a voice for the minorities in Aotearoa and hopes to be able to create conversation around mana.

Tairoa Morrison

Our third tertiary scholarship award for 2016 went to Tairoa Morrison. Tairoa is currently studying a Bachelor of Māori Performing Arts with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. This degree has been developed with the aim of producing kaihaka who are valued repositories of mātauranga Māori, te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and Māori performing arts; ensuring graduates have the mātauranga and skill base fully recognised within Māori communities.

Grant recipients

Our grant winners are all on the pathway to furthering their education. The grants applied for were a wide breadth of education areas.

The grant winners are Arianna Andrews, Rhiannon Bell, Renee Hayes, Andrew Howard, Teone McGregor, Huria McLeod-Bennett, Shana McLeod-Bennett, Jade Waetford, Kirsty Willison, Kylie Willison and Te Wainui Witika-Park.

We are so proud of all our winners and wish them the best in their future studies or careers. To read the full stories on our scholarship recipients click here.

Learn more here about the scholarships and grants offered this year and to start preparing your application for 2017.