Te Whatu Kairangi celebrates outstanding tertiary educators who are making a difference to learners, their whānau and communities.

About Te Whatu Kairangi

Through these awards, outstanding tertiary educators have the opportunity to:

• Share their commitment to outstanding practice in building educational capability and sustained learner success
• Showcase their innovative work and responsiveness to student needs
• Reflect on and strengthen their teaching or training practice
• Enhance their careers
• Access monetary grants to advance their work, enhance their career, promote good practice and benefit learners 

Te Whatu Kairangi is one of the most well-recognised and respected tertiary education awards programmes in Aotearoa. So, whether you’re submitting or supporting a nomination, being part of these Awards is being part of something big. Get behind the awards by downloading a copy of the 2023 flyer and sharing it with your networks.

Awards history

These national Awards were established in 2001 to celebrate and promote sustained excellence in tertiary teaching and have grown to be one of the most well-recognised and respected tertiary education awards programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand.

From 2007, Ako Aotearoa has managed the awards on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Since then, we have recognised and celebrated more than 150 innovative, passionate, outstanding tertiary educators from Industry Training Organisations, Private and Government Training Establishments, Adult & Community Education, Wānanga, Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics, Universities and more.