Act tertiary education spokeswoman Dr Parmjeet Parmar has submitted a private member’s Bill to remove allocation of resources towards student programmes based on ethnicity.
This included special allowances, separate study spaces, scholarships and entrance pathways in fields such as medicine.
Otago University research published last year said that due in part to the special pathways for Maori and Pasifika medical students, the proportion of Maori and Pasifika students studying medicine at the university had jumped from 6.9% in 2003 to 17.5% in 2023.
Pro-vice-chancellor for health sciences Prof Megan Gibbons said these pathways were important to ensure a more equitable and diverse student cohort.
"The student community are in favour of this.
"They understand that health outcomes are better when you are treating people that you know and understand."
Prof Gibbons said there were misconceptions about the programmes.
"The professional degrees are the professional degrees and you have to be successful in them to be able to graduate.
"We are creating pathways that increase the diversity in our population of students. It increases the diversity in the health workforce. But there's no easy ticket to being a doctor or a dentist or a physio or a pharmacist."
Dr Parmar said she came to the decision of introducing the Bill because legislation was needed to ensure university programmes were "race neutral".
"We are a multicultural country and we should stop judging people on the basis of their ethnicity.
"We should stop saying that just because they are of certain ethnicity they need help because there will be students of other ethnicities who would need help as well."
Dr Parmar said the legislation would allow for some special exemptions.
"If a private individual, or any organisation, comes up with an idea of funding an institute — for example, giving a scholarship to students of one particular ethnicity — that will not be stopped by this Bill, because that is private money."
Asked about the rural and low socioeconomic pathways, Dr Parmar said her Bill did not remove the ability of institutions to use funding for resource allocation if needed on the basis of students' academic records or geographic locations.
Prof Gibbons said the education system was not stacked fairly for everyone.
"So, while I think that the Act party probably thinks that these pathways are giving people tickets that they don't deserve, I would actually argue against that.
"I think our education system in general doesn't treat everyone the same and we have to help manage that.
"So we've tried to respond to the communities that we have."
While the Bill needed to be drawn from the ballot before it could be debated in parliament, Dr Parmar said she had written to Universities Minister Dr Shane Reti asking him whether he would consider introducing the Bill as government policy.
Dr Reti told the ODT that universities had the freedom and autonomy to make operational decisions, including how they provided scholarships and support to students.
“However, I do expect universities to focus their efforts on removing barriers to participation and academic achievement.
"I suggest such pathways should be reviewed regularly to make sure they have the greatest possible impact for those who would not otherwise have the opportunity for higher education.
“At this stage, I don’t intend to adopt any legislative measures.”
