Waipapa Taumata Rau course

Your WTR core course contains foundational knowledge and essential skills designed to support you succeed in your undergraduate study and beyond.

All courses introduce you to key elements of our Graduate Profile, which aspires to educate future scholars, global citizens, innovators and leaders. It introduces you to foundational faculty-specific knowledge systems and knowledge of place, central elements of the profile. Designed to support you into university life, all WTR courses teach essential skills to students in their first year of study.

There are five faculty-specific WTR courses. As a core course, first year undergraduates must enrol in their faculty-specific WTR course your first two semesters with us, as course completion will assist you to progress through your degree programme. Conjoint students will choose a WTR course from either component degree in their conjoint programme.

Waipapa Taumata Rau is the Māori name gifted to the University of Auckland by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Waipapa locates us in central Auckland. It was the name of a settlement near to the University that was important in the development of early Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau. In relation to the WTR core courses, Taumata relates to a point of achievement and Rau signifies many. Together, Waipapa Taumata Rau symbolises your many peaks of achievement at our university.

In your WTR course, you’ll learn essential skills to support your future studies and beyond. You’ll also learn about different knowledge systems and knowledge of place underpinning your area of study to provide a foundation for your future learning. 

Essential skills
Coming to university can be a significant change for new students. Your WTR course provides you with essential skills to navigate first year and succeed in your future studies.

The specific skills vary between each course, but every WTR course will teach you the fundamentals of critical and ethical thinking, effective communication and the ability to work well with others.

Knowledge systems
Knowledge produced within a set of rules is called a knowledge system. In a university we have many knowledge systems, where the shared rules of a knowledge system can include values, norms, methods, tools and applications.

What you learn about knowledge systems will vary, ensuring the knowledge is relevant for your programme of study:

• WTR 100 – explores how histories and cultures inform the diverse knowledge systems underpinning arts, creative practices, education, humanities and social sciences.
• WTRBUS 100 - uses a Māori-owned business as a case study to demonstrate knowledge systems relevant to business.
• WTRENG 100 – takes an applied approach to demonstrate how knowledge systems are relevant to our professional bodies in architecture, design, engineering and planning programmes.
• WTRMHS 100 - considers how knowledge systems can frame understandings of and approaches to contemporary health issues.
• WTRSCI 100 – considers how knowledge systems frame understandings of science and sustainability.

Knowledge of place
Place matters to knowledge systems.

Place is more than spot on a globe, knowledge of place is connected to the broader human and natural environment. While your WTR course will teach you knowledge related to this place, what you learn will be relevant to wherever in the world you end up working.

Each WTR course looks at knowledge associated with this place: our university, our city and our country and why it matters for knowledge taught in your faculty.

• WTR 100 – draws on place-based knowledge to demonstrate how diverse knowledge systems and Te Tiriti o Waitangi shape perspectives and apply in your discipline
• WTRBUS 100 - explore landmark Treaty cases and settlements to understand the legal and historical underpinnings of New Zealand’s business environment
• WTRENG 100 – emphasises place-based professional practices and knowledge, drawing on unique examples from Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland
• WTRMHS 100 - considers how place is relevant to health (including te ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi), essential knowledge for health practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand and required by our professional bodies
• WTRSCI 100 – demonstrates how science in Aotearoa New Zealand has evolved in relation to its broader context
  
  

WTR100

Select this course if you are studying a BA, BC, BGlobalSt, BDanceSt, BECSt, BEd(Tchg), BEd(TESOL), BFA, BMus, or BSportHPE.

WTRBUS100

Select this course if you are studying a BCom or BProp.

WTRENG100

Select this course if you are studying a BE(Hons), BAS, BDes, or BUrbPlan(Hons).

WTRMHS100

Select this course if you are studying a BHSc or BNurs.

WTRSCI100

Select this course if you are studying a BSc or BAdvSci.

Please note:

• Conjoint students can choose a WTR course from either component degree in their conjoint programme.
• Non-conjoint LLB students can choose between WTR 100 or WTRSCI 100.