About

UUNZ’s aim is to produce graduates who exhibit our core values:

1. Global Citizens

UUNZ values the knowledge and insights embedded in the cultures of our students and staff. We value the diversity and multi-culturalism of New Zealand, especially tikanga Maori. We nurture, respect, and promote awareness of cultures to demonstrate the meaning of our name - ‘universal’ and ‘united’.

 

Nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora te manuhiri.

With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.

 

2. Intellectually Equipped

UUNZ values critical analysis. We believe that knowledge should be drawn from the very best global scholarship and generated by our own staff and students. Our aim is to bring together existing ideas and to generate original ideas that will address current global needs.

 

He aha te kai a te rangatira? He korero; he korero; he korero.

What is the food of a leader? It is knowledge, it is communication, it discussion.

 

3. Emotionally Intelligent

UUNZ encourages students to value who they are and to respect the differences in others. We want to produce graduates who demonstrate self-awareness, empathy, and strong interpersonal communication.

 

He aha te mea nui o te ao? What is the most important thing in the world?

He tangata. He tangata. He tangata. It is people; it is people; it is people.

 

4. Culturally Competent

We recognise the importance of whakawhanaungatanga/relationship building to our graduates’ lives beyond tertiary study, and in particular the primacy of cultural competence in Aotearoa New Zealand’s bicultural and multicultural context. We therefore aim to develop graduates who are linguistically proficient, as well as alert to the opportunities for individual and collective growth presented by cultural similarities and differences.

 

Ehara tāku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.

My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective.