The aim is laid out in the Pae Tata Strategic Plan to 2030, which the university recently released to the public.
At yesterday’s university council meeting, deputy vice-chancellor academic Prof Stuart Brock said the plan held "huge aspirations" for future staff and students on its path to becoming a more equitable institution.
"Clearly, changes will be needed to be made to the curriculum."
The plan said the university was committed to "transforming lives and nurturing the environment in Aotearoa and the Pacific".
"It’s all part of our goal to expand and diversify the university’s academic and social reach," Prof Brock said.
At the end of 2023, Māori students made up about 12% of the university’s academic cohort, and Pacific Island students 6.6 % — compared to the most recent national census, where Māori made up 17.1% of the population, and Pacific Island people made up 8.9%.
Vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said at the council meeting that the plan had the potential to be world-leading if the university achieved its goal of being "the university of choice for Māori and Pacific Island students".
"The university is the right size and has the right resources to achieve this.
"We have such high availability of experts compared to many universities.
"I think that presents us with an opportunity in a few areas — for a university of our size, we have exceptional depth."
The plan said the university had New Zealand’s best paper pass rates and qualification completion rates for Māori and Pacific students and "world-leading support programmes delivering excellent results in some areas".
"However, these key educational performance indicators are significantly below the rates achieved by our broader student population.
"We need to empower tauira Māori to succeed as Māori through valuing their culture, their voice and responding to their needs.
"We need to invest in their success, for our success."
Increasing the Pacific Island proportion of the student cohort would require "fostering connections locally and within the Pacific region" and "supporting sustainable development and creating Pacific-inclusive campuses and environments", the plan said.
"We need to prepare now to ensure that by 2040, our student body is reflective of the reality that 25% of New Zealand’s population aged 15-39 will be Māori, and 13.8% will be of Pacific ethnicity."
Recently, the university appointed Prof Dianne Sika-Paotonu as its inaugural deputy vice-chancellor of Pacific.
Mr Robertson said the strategic plan had received a "huge amount" of support and feedback from staff and students.
"There’s an energy to it that’s quite inspiring."
"One of the things that’s really struck me returning to Otago after a long time away is the increasing presence of Māori and Pasifika students, which is fantastic, but also the importance of the support systems that we build around all our students."
He said setting the goal was "the right thing to do".
The university has about 19,000 fulltime students.
