Dr Rongo Wetere

Rongo Wetere grew up in Piopio, in the Waikato, and is of Ngāti Maniapoto descent. Leaving high school at the age of 15, Wetere took up farming but later switched to working in insurance.

In 1994 Wetere secured government approval for the establishment of Te Wananga o Aotearoa, the first Māori University of New Zealand, becoming its founding President/CEO. As a consequence of this work Wetere was recognised in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, with an appointment as Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the community.

In 1998 he successfully sued the New Zealand government over inequitable funding for Te Wānanga resulting in three Wānanga institutions receiving $150M capital funding and an apology for past failings. The following year enrolments jumped to 65,000.

In December 2005 Wetere resigned as President/CEO after allegations of conflict-of-interest in the management of the Wānanga in relation to another organisation Aotearoa Institute Te Kuratini o Ngā Waka Trust Board. However former Minister of Education and then Chair of the Tertiary Funding Commission (TEC), the Honourable Russell Marshall stated, “Dr. Wetere had made an enormous contribution to education in New Zealand and was deserving of the highest accolades the country could bestow."

Wetere was a key driver in the establishment of World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) in Banff in 2002 where he was appointed Co-Chair. WINHEC groups all the Indigenous universities around the Pacific the sharing of ideas as well as certification and establishment of standards.

Wetere now lives in Canada.

See also profile on Te Awamutu OnLine and wikipedia