Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Council member Sir Wira Gardiner says the institution is committed to winning back the confidence of its stakeholders, funders, students and the public at large.
Sir Wira Gardiner told Mihingarangi Forbes on Native Affairs that the Minister of Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce was correct in saying the Wānanga had taken a hit after unacceptable practices were identified which involved the Hei Manaaki course, resulting in Awanuiārangi having to pay back $5.9 million to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).
An inquiry is also underway into the Bachelor of Māori Performing Arts also administered by Awanuiārangi.
Gardiner says the institution along with TEC, NZQA and Deloittes are looking very thoroughly at the systems and processes involved.
“In any system one hopes that it's always 100 percent full proof but inevitably you put in place, boards and quality checks in any system, but no system is full proof and it is possible for an individual or individuals to frustrate the process. It takes time to find them but if your systems are robust eventually you will find them and it is unravelling all that takes the time.”
He says one staff member has been dismissed and another has resigned in regards to the matter and the Wānanga is going through processes to deal with the levels of management and whose responsibility it was to identify the issues at hand in the first place.