Chris Gardner catches up with the next chief executive – kaiwhakatere – of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
Evie O’Brien, pictured speaking at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Incoming Te Wānanga o Aotearoa chief executive Evie O’Brien will be welcomed back to the Te Awamutu headquarters next Tuesday with a pōwhiri.
It is 10 years since O’Brien left the organisation and she has spent the last four years as executive director Atlantic Institute in Oxford, England, focussing on addressing systematic causes of inequity.
So, what will be her first task, after the pōwhiri?
“It’s been a long time,” O’Brien told The News on a virtual call. “The first thing is to look and listen. To meet with staff, to review all of the documentation.”
Much has changed in the 10 years since O’Brien last worked for the Te Wananga, most notably governments, but she said “incredible leadership” had put the organisation on the front foot as the government demanded tertiary institutions to do more with less.
She referred to Te Wananga founders Rongo Wetere and Iwi (Boy) Kohuru Mangu who started the organisation in Te Awamutu in 1983.
“Te Awamutu is where the founders of the organisation mortgaged their homes and started this organisation in Te Awamutu College,” she said with pride.
That was chapter one.
Evie O’Brien
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa has grown to now provide tertiary education to more 36,000 students at 80 campuses across the country.
“Without wanting to sound corny, I have the opportunity alongside many others to maybe contribute to Chapter 15 of a 60-chapter book, which has lots of authors,” said O’Brien, whose whakapapa is Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Maniapoto.
“That puts it into perspective.”
Māori once had the lowest participation rate in higher education among indigenous people in the world, but O’Brien was happy to say the dial had long since moved on that to one of the highest participation rates. But the country still needed to plug the gap for those for whom mainstream education was not working.
O’Brien, who will move to Te Awamutu as she takes up the role, talked about developing Te Wānanga o Aotearoa by building on relationships it already has with business and community organisations, while looking at opportunities to build new relationships for the betterment of the community.
“We’ll partner with a community organisation or a tribal authority in innovative way, taking education to the people. It’s scary, and exciting at the same time,” she said. “We look at what works, particularly for people who are working, and I think there is an opportunity to scale this.”
O’Brien envisaged a learning pathway that developed and grew that saw Te Wānanga o Aotearoa students, at whatever stage of life, progressing through different courses or programmes that meet a need.
She brings to mind courses for those working in healthcare or law enforcement.
“My role at Oxford was just incredible,” O’Brien said. “I worked with some extraordinary people across the world. Many of my fellows were on the front line, whether it was war or displacement. It gave me an appreciation of things that we often take for granted. When someone says, ‘you can’t do that’ we say, ‘watch’.”
O’Brien will work alongside current kaiwhakatere chief executive Nepia Winiata to ensure a smooth transition before his farewell on February 13. He has served the organisation for 15 years.
Evie O’Brien
