Failure rates among Maori and Pacific students on the rise

More university students are failing their courses, and Maori and Pacific students are worst affected, according to Ministry of Education figures which show that universities’ course completion rates dropped from a high of 89% in 2020 to 86% last year, the lowest rate since 2014, writes John Gerritsen for RNZ.

For Pacific students the figure was 69%, but annual reports showed it fell by as much as nine or 10 percentage points at some universities to sit as low as 61%. Maori students’ pass rate was 80% and annual reports indicated it had fallen at about double the rate of non-Maori, non-Pacific students since 2020.

Universities and student representatives blamed the pandemic, increased online learning and the cost-of-living crisis for the decline. Auckland University Students’ Association Pacific Island student officer David Tuifua said the effect of falling pass rates was obvious. “There’s a space on campus that is seen as a safe haven for a lot of our Pacific students. As the years go by you see the students who did usually come up to this space not come up, to the point where they’re just not studying anymore.”
Full report on the NZ Herald site