Okareka Charitable Trust Scholarship

Students who will be completing their final year of their degree in 2025 are encouraged to apply for this scholarship. The Okareka Charitable Trust especially welcomes applications from students in Building & Construction, Computing & Information Technology, Engineering, Business, and Healthcare programmes. 

Key dates 

Round 1: Opens 17 December 2025 | Closes 10th February 2026

Round 2: Opens 13 May 2026 | Closes 16th July 2026

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible, you must: 

• be a domestic student, i.e. a New Zealand citizen or Permanent Resident
• be completing the final semester or year of one of the below programmes:
  • Healthcare
    • Bachelor of Health Science (Medical Imaging)
    • Bachelor of Nursing
  • Engineering
    • NZ Diploma in Engineering (Electrical)
    • Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Electrical)
  • Automotive Engineering
    • Bachelor of Applied Technology – Transport Management
  • Land Surveying
    • NZ Diploma in Surveying
  • Environmental and Animal Sciences
    • Bachelor of Veterinary Nursing
    • NZ Diploma in Veterinary Nursing
    • NZ Certificate in Animal Technology (Veterinary Nursing Assistant)
  • Construction
    • Bachelor of Construction (Construction Management)
    • New Zealand Diploma in Construction (Quantity Surveying)
  • Computing
    • Graduate Diploma in Computing
  • Business
    • Bachelor of Accounting
• have a GPA of 4.0 or above in your most recent semester of study, and passed all previous papers in your programme of study
• be facing financial challenges or difficult circumstances

The value of the scholarship varies dependent on the cost and length of programme for which the scholarship is awarded.

How to apply

 Apply online using this link. As part of your application you will need to respond to the following questions:

• tell us a little about yourself, especially around your goals and achievements, community
involvement and personal strengths (Examples of community involvement include church, sports, or
interest group networks. Personal strengths can include anything that helps you reach goals, for
example – hardworking, achiever).
• what are you studying at Unitec and what are your employment and career aspirations beyond that?
• what motivates you to succeed in your study?
• do you have a potential job or type of company you would like to work for and why?
• please detail the financial challenges and/or difficult circumstances you believe would support this
application, and how this scholarship help support you with your studies?

Selection Process

Once scholarship applications close, the Scholarships & Mentoring Team (“Team”) check that the
applicants have:
• completed the online application
• applied to, or are currently enrolled in the final year of a relevant Unitec programme; and
• enrolled as a domestic ākonga.

The Team sends all eligible applications to the Scholarship Selection Committee for review.

Selection committees (“Committee”) are made up of at least three relevant members of Unitec,
including the Director Student Success (or their delegate) as Committee Chair (“Chair”).
The Sponsor will be invited to participate in the selection committee review or may request to review a
shortlist advised by the Committee.
The committee review all applications received and will make award recommendations based on a
combination of:
• responses to the scholarship application questions
• Unitec priority group goals and Committee and Sponsor preferences outlined in 8.1 and 8.2 above

Committee award decisions are authorised by the Director, Student Success, upon confirmation from
Okareka Charitable Trust who will formalise final Recipient selection.

What happens after selection

The Scholarships & Mentoring team are the kaitiakitanga of the scholarships process. They will:
• let ākonga know scholarship application outcomes
• check enrolments at week three of the semester as the final eligibility check
• set up the tuition fee payments – to be made in week six of semester 1 and 2
• manage ongoing eligibility checks, mentoring opportunities, and future payments
• report back to Okareka Charitable Trust on the academic progress of the successful applicants each
semester.

Ongoing eligibility

Academic progress: Ākonga who are awarded the scholarship are expected to achieve Pass grades for
all courses unless exceptional circumstances prevail.

Scholarships and Award Regulations
Ākonga who fail one or more courses will be assisted by the Scholarships & Mentoring team to explain
their circumstances via a breach appeals process.
Appeals are considered by the awarding scholarship selection committee Chair. The chair will decide
whether to terminate or maintain the scholarship and will also provide referrals to academic or pastoral
assistance, wherever possible, to support ākonga.

Unitec Enrolment: Ākonga are expected to maintain their enrolment status, i.e., be enrolled full-time
(typically a minimum of 60 credits) per semester, or part-time as stipulated when their scholarship was
awarded.

Termination of a scholarship

Your scholarship will be ended/terminated by Unitec if:
• you withdraw from the Unitec course/programme after the start of the programme
• you cease to meet the eligibility criteria
• you breach the academic and enrolment ongoing eligibility requirements and don’t successfully
appeal; or
• Unitec determines that you are guilty of misconduct and after consultation with the Director Student
Success (or their nominee), deems that it is not appropriate for you to continue to hold the
Scholarship.

Apply now