Pacific kaimahi from Unitec and MIT elected to APSTE national executive

Aiono Manu Fa’aea, Senior Pasifika Manager for MIT, is the new chair of the Association of Pasifika Staff in Tertiary Education (APTSE), while Unitec’s Director for Student Success, Annette Pitovao is the new Upper North Regional Coordinator.

APSTE’s mission is to nurture and develop the educational aspirations of Pasifika through staff networks, partnerships, and professional development. The organisation has been supporting Pasifika staff and students in tertiary education in Aotearoa for over 30 years.

Aiono says her appointment means a great deal and she is committed to enabling Pacific excellence and success.

“This role allows me to support the professional development and leadership prowess of our tertiary Pacific workforce through cultural wellbeing,” says Aiono.

“This year ITOs have also joined APSTE to continue the collaboration success we achieved as Pacific under Te Pūkenga Moana Pacific (TPMP).”

APSTE also provides crucial support for kaimahi, who are the only Pacific staff member in their team or at their institution.

“Many of our Pacific staff across Aotearoa are isolated,” Aiono explains. “Some are the only ones tasked with Pacific learner success with minimal support and resource. Being able to connect as tertiary Pacific staff through targeted support will be a focus this year.”

Annette Pitovao says her role will initially be gathering feedback from northern region-based Pacific staff on what professional development opportunities they would like to see available to grow their capability and competency.

“We have some amazing young Pacific leaders coming through many institutes so let’s make sure we do everything we can to support them into future opportunities to lead the way in our sector,” says Pitovao, who also acknowledged the work of Unitec kaimahi such as Head of School for Healthcare and Social Practice, Dr Linda Aumua, who was one of the founding members of APSTE.

“APSTE is a critical professional body for Government to stay connected with as we have large and diverse collaborative voices given the professional membership covers the whole tertiary sector throughout Aotearoa,” Pitovao explains.

“Aiono has made great progress already in her new role as 2025 Chair so we will achieve excellent milestones this year based on the first few months of traction, I’m sure,” Annette says.

The new APTSE executive will meet in Tāmaki Makaurau on Thursday, 27 March to plan and prepare for this year’s events. The biggest event on the calendar is the annual APSTE Fono which will be hosted by Victoria University in Wellington from 27-29 August 2025. Managers are encouraged to release Pacific staff as part of their professional development to attend this national fono.