Tertiary education minister Steven Joyce and Māori affairs minister Dr Pita Sharples signed a deed of settlement this week with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi recognising the unique contribution it makes to tertiary education, and providing it with funding to develop its Whakatāne campus. In the settlement the Crown will pay Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi $14.5 million.

Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi claims that when setting up the tertiary institution in 1992 it was given only $64,000 by the Government. It says that the amount of money was not equivalent to what other tertiary providers where given.

Mr Joyce says this is the last of the three Wānanga to be compensated. He says the money will build a library, a lecture theatre, and an exhibition centre.

Mr Joyce says the agreement completes negotiations between the Crown and all three wānanga over the 1999 Waitangi Tribunal Wānanga Capital Establishment Report (Wai 718).

The Tribunal supported the claim that wānanga did not get capital funding from the government equivalent to other public tertiary providers and, as a result, the three wānanga and their students were disadvantaged.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Te Wānanga o Raukawa settled their respective claims under Wai 718 in 2001 and 2008.

Thanks to Br3nda @ Flickr for the photo