The 2025 Unitec Scholarships Award Ceremony held in Te Puna on Wednesday was a chance for families, loved ones and kaimahi to honour our ākonga who received scholarships this year.
Unitec awarded 138 scholarships this year and committed more than $200,000 to support ākonga with education related costs.
DCE – Learner Experience and Success, Dr Simon Nash says these scholarships not only provided the financial means for students to study, they were also the difference between graduating and not passing.
The awards were “an opportunity to recognise the value of scholarships, and to understand how significant they are in supporting student success,” says Dr Nash.
Mother of four, Tiesa Leameivaka says receiving the Pacific Academic Excellence Scholarship allowed her to go back to study after a decade of being a stay home mum.
“It was quite overwhelming trying to juggle family life and going back to study. But it’s scholarships like this that make things easier for me.
“I used to ask myself, ‘am I a person of potential, leadership, and commitment?’ and not believe it. I want to thank my teachers and the scholarship team for believing in me. You all made my Bachelor of Social Practice journey feel like it’s the right pathway for me.”
Close to thirty scholarships were funded by external providers such as Okareka Charitable Trust, which donated $50,000 worth of scholarships; Te Whatu Ora, which awarded four Pacific Health Scholarships worth $10,000 each; The Kate Edgar Foundation which awarded twenty-one scholarships to Unitec students valued at $63,000; and the NZCBIA (New Zealand Chinese Business Industry Association) and Archiland, who sponsored three of our ākonga this year.
Just over a hundred scholarships were awarded to our priority groups including Māori, Pacific and Disabled/Neurodiverse learners.
More than a third (35%) of these scholarships were awarded to ākonga in the School of Healthcare and Social Practice.
A new scholarship offered this year was dedicated to the memory of the late Academic Development Lecturer Lance Laulala who passed away in July. The Lance Laulala Memorial Scholarship was made possible through a generous donation of $4,000 from Lance’s colleagues.
Dr Nash says Lance “exemplified the practices of mentoring and support.”
Lance’s wife Marie Campbell was in attendance accompanied by family members to present the awards to the four inaugural recipients.
“I want to congratulate all the recipients of these scholarships. Lance loved this institution, the students and he loved his colleagues, and he would be deeply honoured, probably a little bit shy, and probably a little bit silly as well. I wish you, on his behalf, every success for the future and congratulations to all of you,” Marie says.
Team Leader Mentoring and Scholarships, Helena Finau-Hakalo, says this was the first time her team had held an event to celebrate all their scholarship winners. Based on this year’s success, it will now become an annual event.
“Thank you to our Unitec leadership as well as our external sponsors who continue to willingly fund and support our students. It makes all the difference to the success and retention of our learners,” Helena says.
