SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Te Aurei is our programme of work to transform the University into an antiracist and inclusive institution. The ultimate goal is the transformation of our University. Some of the things we’re working on are achievable today, and some are aspirational for well into the future. It all contributes towards our goal of transformation.

Systemic and casual racism no longer have a place: The University of Waikato is experienced as a welcoming, inclusive and affirming environment by staff and students of all cultures, as well as tangata whenua, and where systemic racism has been dismantled and casual racism is rejected.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi is at the heart of the life and work of the University: The mana of tangata whenua teaching, learning and working at the University is enhanced and the University enjoys strengthened and enriched relationships with Waikato-Tainui, the Kīngitanga, the iwi of Tauranga Moana and wider tangata whenua of Aotearoa, offering a model for other decolonisation efforts in Aotearoa and internationally.

Mātauranga Māori is treasured: All staff and students enjoy enhanced academic experiences and results from the weaving of mātauranga Māori through existing teaching and research approaches.

An international project between Waikato and New York-based researchers received a $750,000 boost to develop tools aimed at protecting indigenous communities’ rights over their own knowledge and data. The project is led in New Zealand by Associate Professor Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea), Director of the University of Waikato Te Kotahi Research Institute, and in New York by New York University Legal Scholar, Dr Jane Anderson, supported by strategic design partners IDIA (Indigenous Design and Innovation Aotearoa).

“Data relating to Indigenous peoples and their traditional knowledge has long been misused by non-Indigenous governments, scientists and innovators. The work we are doing will ensure Indigenous communities’ benefit from the use of their knowledge and genetic resources." Associate Professor Hudson

A group of Waikato researchers is leading groundbreaking research into racism in New Zealand with the help of $10 million in Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Endeavour funding. The project Working to End Racial Oppression (WERO), is examining the systems through which racism is reproduced with the goal of producing tools to help organisations overcome institutional racism and build relationships in racialised communities. The project is led by Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki, Dr Arama Rata and Professor Francis Collins.

A new Pacific Strategic Plan was adopted in June 2021 following lengthy consultation. Pacific peoples have a long history and rich cultural heritage of voyaging, valuing knowledge, and learning. The new plan demonstrates the University’s commitment to building and enhancing these dimensions of our institution, and realising the educational aspirations and success of Pacific learners and staff. The University officially welcomed its first Pacific Chancellor, Sir Anand Satyanand, with a special ceremony at the Hamiton campus in March 2021. The event also served as an opportunity to launch a new Pacific journal; In Our Language: Journal of Pacific Research, the first journal to translate previously peer-reviewed articles from English and publish them in Pacific languages.