Opening Te Uru Rangi Māori web development scholarship

Opening Te Uru Rangi Māori web development scholarship

Enspiral Dev Academy is thrilled to announce the launch of Te Uru Rangi, a scholarship to support Māori students entering the technology industry.

Te Uru Rangi, which means Stargate, a portal to the future, is a collaborative partnership between Enspiral Dev Academy, Te Puni Kōkiri (the Ministry of Māori Development), New Zealand Trade & Enterprise and Callaghan Innovation.

Minister Flavell will open the scholarship today, which will lower barriers for young Māori to become web developers by helping students complete the Enspiral Dev Academy junior development course and find jobs in New Zealand’s exciting technology sector.

Rohan Wakefield, co-founder of Enspiral Dev Academy has been striving to create this opportunity for some time.

“Training and recruiting enough talent for New Zealand’s growing technology industry is a challenge and we are currently missing out on a huge pool of talented Māori that will excel in this area and help lift the bar for New Zealand’s technology exports.” says Wakefield.

The Enspiral Dev Academy is a 9 week intensive, full immersion bootcamp where students learn by doing. They leave with all the fundamentals of software development needed to be employed as junior developers.

“We want to help train and support the next wave of Māori tech and business leaders. Te Uru Rangi scholarships will be incredibly beneficial in helping to achieve this goal.”

The programme has partnerships with some of New Zealand’s best technology companies including Xero, Trademe, NZX & Powershop.

“We work closely with our partner businesses, which means over 80% of graduates have walked into great technology jobs within a few months of doing the course. Te Uru Rangi scholarships create a huge opportunity for more Māori to step into this thriving industry, and enter jobs that have high earning potential and value creativity, diversity and collaborative problem solving.”

New Zealand’s technology job shortage means that there is a huge demand for highly skilled developers, that is not currently being met by the number of graduates leaving tertiary institutions.

Enspiral Dev Academy co-founder Joshua Vial notes that a lack of diversity in Aotearoa’s tech industry is hindering its growth and potential.

“Most software developers in New Zealand approach problems from a similar perspective because they come from similar backgrounds. By supporting people into the sector from a range of backgrounds, New Zealand will be able to solve problems in better and more innovative ways, which means our technology industry will not only thrive - it will be one of the best in the world.”

“There’s just so much opportunity in the rapidly growing sector for people to live amazing lives and do work that’s really valuable to people. It’s fantastic that Te Uru Rangi scholarships can help extend this opportunity to more Māori students.”

ENDS

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