Cultural identity and academic achievement among Māori undergraduate university students

Abstract

Cultural identity and academic achievement were investigated among a nonrandom sample of 72 undergraduate Māori university students studying at Massey University. Student problems were examined to identify the types of difficulties most prevalent among this population. The degree to which cultural identity moderates the relationship between student problems and academic achievement was then examined. Major findings were that (a) there is a consistent negative relationship between student problems and academic achievement; and (b) cultural identity moderates the effect of student problems on academic achievement, in that: a high degree of problems were associated with decreases in grade point average among respondents with low cultural identity; while among respondents with high cultural identity, high levels of student problems had little negative effect on grade point average. Despite the study having limitations, the findings have important implications for Māori students, deliverers of tertiary education, tertiary education providers, and those involved in the development and implementation of tertiary education policy.