Analyst completes new tertiary education management degree

Kayrn Kee, a policy analyst from the University's Office of the Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Māori and Pasifika), has graduated from the second intake of a new University of Melbourne qualification, a Master of Tertiary Education Management.

Ms Kee (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Ranginui) is one of only two New Zealanders to have completed the degree and is the first from a New Zealand University.

The course comprehensively covers the range of management issues at tertiary education institutions – academic, human resources, research and strategic, she says. There is nothing like it offered in New Zealand. It took her two years to complete part-time, while working full-time at Massey, and required travelling to Melbourne eight times.

Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Māori and Pasifika) Professor Sir Mason Durie supported her application for the LH Martin Institute Scholarship that assisted with half of the course fees. “She has both the necessary academic background and the practical experience to benefit from the course and to transfer knowledge gained to the New Zealand tertiary sector,” Sir Mason said. “As one of relatively few Māori policy analysts within the tertiary sector she has the potential to become a leader in the field, with benefits for Māori and for the wider sector.”

Ms Kee has a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma of Teaching (Primary) from Waikato University and a Master of Library and Information Studies from Victoria University. She joined Massey in 2003 has worked with senior management, university units and the community on a range of initiatives, including gaining approval and funding for a position dedicated to student data analysis and increasing the University’s capability to engage with Māori communities. She was also involved in establishing and maintaining the successful Highbury Scholarship programme. In 2006 she was seconded to the Māori Advisory Unit of the Tertiary Education Commission, which gave her the opportunity to contribute to the tertiary education reforms and the Tertiary Education Strategy 2007-12.

She acknowledges the support from Massey to complete her study and says the degree programme was thought provoking and academically rigorous "as well as being a good opportunity to network with other people who have roles like mine".

“We looked at issues tertiary institutions face at a national and global level – like a shortage of qualified staff and succession planning. For Māori this is even more of a concern. The need to develop specific succession planning in Massey’s People strategy has now been signalled for Māori specific roles over the next 5-10 years.” She says middle managers and academic managers would benefit from completing the course.