In 2013, 36,072 Māori stated a bachelor’s degree or higher as their highest qualification, compared with 23, 070 in 2006 (up 56.4 %). That’s 10.1% of our population up from 7.1%.

In 2013, 12.3 percent of Māori women and 7.4 percent of Māori men stated a bachelor’s degree or higher as their highest qualification. This is up from 8.4 percent for women and 5.6 percent for men in 2006. Of the Māori who stated a bachelor’s degree or higher as their highest qualification in 2013:

75.0 percent had bachelor’s degrees

13.2 percent had post-graduate and honours degrees

10.0 percent had master’s degrees

1.8 percent had doctorate degrees.

BA, MA or what?

You will need to have completed an undergraduate degree and other graduate qualifications before you can enrol in a PhD or doctorate.

Each University is different

There are different ways of doing doctoral study. In some universities you will enrol in courses in your subject, and then write a thesis. In other universities, there is no coursework involved - your job is to plan, research and write the thesis. In New Zealand, the most usual way of doing a PhD is by thesis only, but some universities offer coursework as part of a doctoral qualification.

How long will it take?

It will take you about 3 years to carry out, analyse and write up your research for a full-length thesis, but some theses take much longer to write. Different universities have different rules about the minimum and maximum amount of time you are allowed to be enrolled.

Part-time or full-time

Most universities will allow you to enrol as a part-time student if you are not able to enrol as a full-time student. There are often rules about how many hours you are expected to work on your thesis, and how many hours you are allowed to be in paid employment.

However you proceed, make sure you check your departmental rules on these and other issues before you enrol!