Gabriel Boyd: University Students Association President on Act pushing for UOA to scrap the compulsory Waipapa Taumata Rau course

Push back on the Act Party's attempts to get Auckland University to scrap its compulsory ‘Waipapa Taumata Rau’ course. 

The near $6 thousand paper covers the Treaty of Waitangi and traditional Māori tikanga for first year students. 

Act says international learners shouldn't be forced into a course irrelevant to their studies and future careers. 

University Students Association President Gabriel Boyd told Andrew Dickens it teaches essential skills to help new students and isn't unfairly priced. 

He says it's in-line with course costs for international learners, which they're aware of before they come. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right act parties. Palme Jit palm Mar has called for
Auckland UNI to scrap a wipe up a tomato course.
Now what's that in English? It's a course that teaches
us about New Zealand life and traditional Milori knowledge to
international students. Seven thousand of them have been forced to
do the course in twenty twenty five. It's compulsory and

(00:21):
here is the rub. It's expensive. It costs five seven
hundred and thirty dollars. So I got the president with
the of the Auckland University Students Association with me right now,
Gabriel Boyd, welcome to the showmate.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Ah, thank you for having me, angree.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Why is this thing so expensive and why is it mandatory?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I think it's a little unfair to single out the
WTR course being particularly expensive. It's pretty in line with
the standard prices for international students, which they're well aware
of before they come to the University of Auckland. And
even with those prices, we're still by far the most
attended university by international students, which hasn't been changing. And

(01:05):
why is it mandatory? It's an essential knowledge course for
all incoming first years. I don't set the course requirements
for students. But looking at the course description and the
course reviews of the science class that was piloted last year,
it was incredibly popular with the first year students.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Does this happen in universities around the world or is
this just a New Zealand thing.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
This being teaching cultural competency. Yeah, yeah, I think it
does happen around the world. Obviously, it is going to
be university specific as to which what localized to knowledge
is taught. I think part of what makes New Zealand
so special is the focus that we do have on

(01:53):
indigenous studies, coming from the United States, where our indigenous
population are largely ignored. I think this is the course
I would have loved as a first year and I
would have gotten a lot more out of it than
my gen ED which I just took the easy course option.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Even though it would have cost you five seven hundred
and thirty dollars extra on top of what you're already paying,
and already international students are paying a lot, so.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Again it is replacing a jed ED requirement which they
would also be paying a similar amount for, So this
isn't going to add another five seven hundred on top
of what they were already paying.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
So you believe that this is going to increase and
enhance the university's reputation or will it infect turn international
students away.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I can't say for sure what it'll do. Obviously we're
piloting the full roll out this year, or the university
is piloting the full roll out this year. I would
hope it would be appealing to international students, many of
whom do want to learn about New Zealand, even if
they're only here just for their But I guess we'll see.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
With time, all right, Gabriel, I thank you for your time.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
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