Native Affairs reported last week that another course offered by Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is now the subject of an inquiry, Awanuiārangi will also repay the Tertiary Education Commission nearly $6 million for the under delivery of its Māori Tourism diploma, Hei Manaaki.
The current inquiry looks into its three-year Bachelor of Māori Performing Arts course.
There are currently 886 students studying the degree. As a mixed-mode course students learn off-campus.
Awanuiārangi told the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that in its first year a student takes 8 papers. Each paper involves 60 hours of group learning and a further 90 hours of self-directed learning.
Students involved in the degree are usually part of a national kap haka team, much of their learning is cross-credited to practice and performance.
For much of the year, the groups are not assisted by an Awanuiārangi staff member, they're self-taught, using the group leaders to guide and facilitate performance and assignments.
Each group is financially compensated for costs associated with noho (live-ins).
To understand how the Bachelor of Maori Performing Arts works, earlier this afternoon Mihingarangi Forbes spoke to the Professor of Education at Awanuiārangi Professor Wiremu Doherty and she began by asking what makes the degree unique.