The University of Otago has announced a new pilot programme, Tu Kahika, aimed at addressing an acute shortage of Maori health professionals.
Twenty Maori students will be enrolled in the foundation-year programme next year in preparation for entering Health Sciences in 2011.
University of Otago Maori Development director Darryn Russell said the programme would be aimed at students who had missed academic opportunities "through barriers not of their own doing".
Programme participants may have the academic potential but not necessarily the entry requirements, he said.
Students would receive assistance with fees and accommodation, and also be offered mentors in an effort to improve the number of Maori heath professionals in a range of disciplines, including medicine, physiotherapy, nursing and midwifery.
University of Otago pro-vice-chancellor of Health Sciences, Prof Don Roberton, said the pilot was 18 months in the making and had the support of the Ministry of Health, and Te Tapuae o Rehua Ltd - a joint venture between Ngai Tahu and five South Island tertiary institutions.
Funding of $350,000 a year for four years has been secured.
About 8% of all first-year health sciences students identified as being Maori, and the pilot programme would help increase that statistic and inspire more Maori to become health professionals, Prof Roberton said.
An obstacle facing many Maori students was the fact many came from remote rural areas, which did not have the same access to science resources as metropolitan high school, he said.
While early discussions about the scheme included a possible quota system, that had been rejected, with no student to receive "preferential treatment", he said.
University of Otago vice-chancellor, Professor Sir David Skegg, said it was essential Maori were well represented in the health professions.
Figures from the Ministry of Health show in 2006 the proportion of Maori doctors was 2.5%, Maori nurses 7% and midwives 7%According to the 2006 census, 14.6% of New Zealand residents identify as Maori.
