Student Vote Will Decide Who Joins Te Herenga Waka’s Top Governing Body

Students will elect one of their two representatives on the University Council when voting opens on Monday, 10 August.

The Council is Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s highest governing body, responsible for overseeing the institution’s strategy, finances, leadership, and long-term direction.

Electronic voting will close at 5pm on Friday, 14 August. All students are eligible to vote, and the election will use first-past-the-post, meaning the candidate with the most votes will win. Students will be emailed a link to vote.

Although student representatives serve two-year terms, an election is held each year because the Council has two student members with overlapping terms. This provides continuity while giving students an annual opportunity to choose a new representative.

For many students, the Council’s work can be less visible than lectures, clubs, student services, or the activities of the students’ association. However, its decisions sit behind some of the University’s most significant choices, including increases to tuition fees and compulsory levies, major building projects and the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor.

What Is the University Council?

The University Council governs Te Herenga Waka. It is separate from the students’ association executive, faculty boards, and the University’s senior management team.

Its role is governance rather than day-to-day management. The Council sets the University’s strategic direction and monitors its performance, while the Vice-Chancellor is responsible for academic and administrative operations.

Under the Education and Training Act, the Council appoints the Vice-Chancellor and monitors their performance. It also approves the University’s investment plan, establishes policies for managing its affairs and oversees long-term strategic planning.

In practice, this means considering institutional priorities, financial sustainability, major risks, performance, and capital investment. Council members are expected to assess whether proposals are financially sound, consistent with the University’s strategy, and likely to support its long-term interests.

The Council also has statutory duties, including striving for excellence in education and research, acknowledging the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, encouraging participation from the communities the University serves, preventing unfair discrimination, and operating in a financially responsible manner.

Some of its work can be examined publicly. The University publishes information about the Council’s role and membership, alongside public meeting agendas, papers, and minutes. Other discussions remain confidential where they involve employment, privacy, or commercially sensitive information.

Who Sits on Council?

The Council has 12 members.

Four are appointed by the Minister responsible for tertiary education, while eight are appointed by the Council under the University’s statutes.

The eight positions include two elected staff members and two elected student members. Three further appointments are overseen through the Council’s Nominations Panel, and the Vice-Chancellor also sits on the Council.

Members may bring experience in governance, finance, law, education, research, public service, business, or community leadership.

Student representatives account for two of the 12 seats, but hold a distinctive position. They can test how proposals that appear reasonable at a strategic level may affect students across different programmes, campuses, and communities.

What Has the Council Decided?

Council decisions can directly affect how much students pay.

At its meeting on 8 September 2025, the Council approved a 6 percent increase in domestic tuition fees for 2026—the maximum permitted under the Government’s Annual Maximum Fee Movement.

The meeting minutes record members acknowledging the impact on students during the cost-of-living crisis. Student presidents raised concerns about the tertiary funding system, but Chancellor Alan Judge said the increase was necessary to maintain financial stability and protect student-support services.

Both elected student members, Asifa Hanif and William Bell-Purchas, abstained. The increase was approved by the remaining members.

At the same meeting, the Council approved a 5 percent increase in the compulsory Student Services Fee and retained the Student Hardship Fee at $32. The minutes describe the services levy as mainly funding non-academic support, particularly health and wellbeing services.

Similar decisions were made the previous year. In September 2024, the Council approved an 8 percent rise in the Student Services Fee for 2025. It also increased the Student Hardship Fee from $30 to $32.

During that discussion, then-VUWSA president Marcail Parkinson raised concerns that occupancy costs were consuming 20 percent of Student Services Fee funding that could otherwise be spent on services. The minutes also record warnings that increasing occupancy costs were putting the continued delivery of those services at risk.

In an interview with Salient, the current Student Representative William Bell-Purchas explained that he had twice been elected on a platform that centres on the Living Wage. In September 2024, over 100 people attended the public Council meeting in support of Bell-Purchas’ motion that the university work towards paying staff at rates consistent with a living wage.

“Te Herenga Waka is one of the biggest employers in the Wellington region. Like many other students, I feel strongly that we should pay our people enough to live with dignity. It’s also consistent with the university’s strategy, set by Council, which centres manaakitanga for staff and students,” Bell-Purchas told Salient. He emphasised that many staff are students too, such as tutors and research assistants.

Following this, most directly employed staff have been lifted above the Living Wage, and remain so in August 2026. Contracted cleaners and catering workers have not—something Bell-Purchas wants Council to address.

Council decisions can also have financial effects extending over several years. In December 2021, it committed up to $45 million to the Living Pā redevelopment at the Kelburn campus. The University described the project as a redevelopment of its marae precinct into a teaching and learning hub designed to meet the Living Building Challenge environmental standard.

What Does a Student Representative Do?

A student Council member attends meetings, reads papers, participates in discussions, and votes on decisions in the same way as other members.

Council papers can cover budgets, strategies, risks, policies, and performance information. Members must be able to understand complex material, ask informed questions, and consider the long-term consequences of decisions.

Student representatives bring current student perspectives into those discussions. They may raise concerns about affordability, access, learning conditions, support services, campus life, and wellbeing.

They can also question whether consultation has reached the students most affected, whether evidence reflects the diversity of the student body and whether the practical consequences of a proposal have been fully considered.

However, a student representative is not simply a delegate required to vote according to the instructions of a particular organisation or group.

Like all Council members, they must act honestly, with integrity, and in the interests of the University as a whole. Their role is to bring student knowledge into collective decision-making while carrying the responsibilities of a governor.

A student member can oppose a proposal and have their vote recorded.

Bell-Purchas emphasised that the role of a student representative on Council is what that student makes it, and argued an effective representative might both exercise the levers available through Council and champion students more broadly.

“The tertiary sector is underfunded by the government. I think that University Councils should be contributing to the New Zealand-wide conversation about how we can ensure education is a public good. Students on Council are uniquely positioned to advocate for this,”

Bell-Purchas has prioritised the relationship between Council and VUWSA—he and Hanif now attend VUWSA executive meetings as non-voting members.

“We can represent students better if we work to remain informed about what’s affecting as many people as possible.”

The two-year term allows student members to develop institutional knowledge. Because their terms overlap, each incoming representative serves alongside a student member with previous Council experience.

Who Is Running?

Eight candidates are standing in the 2026 election. The following summaries are based on biographies and statements published on the University’s student election website.

Arie Joe is studying towards a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. His priorities include affordability, access to student support, stronger clubs and communities, improved digital systems, and more transparent, evidence-led governance.

Bryce Shegog is studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Theatre. They cite previous student council and policy engagement experience, and prioritises inclusive representation, community-building, and long-term equity across the University’s student communities.

Destin Gallichan-Pearce is studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science. He cites experience as a student representative, performing and cultural arts leader, and hall executive member, and prioritises fair, accurate and inclusive representation.

Hayze Paikea Wentworth is studying Media in Society and Politics and Māori Language. He prioritises student wellbeing, challenging outdated University policies, and making institutional systems easier for current and future tauira to navigate.

Kaleb Evans-Lao is studying Law and Global Studies. He cites experience engaging with student feedback processes and University statutes, and wants to scrutinise and influence University governance to improve students’ study experience.

Pangeran Zakaria is studying Psychology. Drawing on his experience as a refugee across different countries and cultures, he prioritises advocacy on student fees, the University’s international standing, and achieving stronger outcomes from student programmes and petitions.

Shannon Hughes is studying towards an LLB and a Bachelor of Psychology in Criminal Justice and Psychological Science. She cites experience representing tertiary students at the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Budget lock-up and serving as a hall representative. Her priorities include affordability, paid placements, accessible mental-health support, the Living Wage, Te Tiriti, LGBTQIA+ rights, Palestine, and climate action.

Tomina Apiti is a Doctor of Philosophy candidate. She cites her experience as a wāhine Māori student, māmā, caregiver, military veteran, and not-for-profit governance leader. Her priorities include accessibility, safety, wellbeing, violence prevention, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and responsible long-term decision-making.

Students reviewing the candidate profiles on Te Herenga Waka’s website may want to consider more than a general promise to “represent students.”

Relevant questions include whether a candidate understands the difference between governance and management, can analyse complex information, is prepared to challenge proposals constructively, and can communicate Council issues without breaching confidentiality.

The limits of the position are also important. A Council member cannot personally direct University departments, overturn management decisions or guarantee a particular outcome from the rest of Council.

Effective representation is therefore likely to depend on a candidate’s ability to use evidence, ask difficult questions, make a persuasive case, and build constructive relationships with other members.

No candidate can personally embody every student experience. Te Herenga Waka’s student body includes undergraduate and postgraduate, domestic and international, full-time and part-time students based across several campuses. A representative’s willingness to consult and listen may therefore be as important as the experiences they already bring.

Why the Election Matters

University governance can appear abstract until a difficult decision is made.

Recent votes show that the student position is not ceremonial. Council members have been required to decide whether to increase tuition fees and compulsory levies, how to protect services during financial pressure, and whether to commit tens of millions of dollars to major capital projects.

The 2025 tuition-fee decision also shows that electing student representatives does not guarantee their preferred outcome will prevail. Hanif and Bell-Purchas abstained, but the 6 percent increase was still approved.

A student member holds one of 12 seats and cannot determine an outcome alone. Their influence depends on their ability to question proposals, argue for changes and persuade other members.

However, formal participation on the Council provides students with a channel distinct from consultation, protest, submissions, or representation through student organisations. It places current students inside the body ultimately responsible for the University’s direction.

The role also comes with constraints. Some information cannot be made public, and student members must consider the University’s legal obligations and wider interests rather than treating every decision as a contest between students and the institution.

Those constraints do not remove the importance of student representation. They make the choice more consequential: students are selecting someone who must combine advocacy with judgement, independence and an understanding of governance.

Electronic voting opens on Monday, 10 August and closes at 5pm on Friday, 14 August. The successful candidate will serve a two-year term alongside the continuing student representative, William Bell-Purchas.

For students deciding whether the election deserves their attention, the central question is not simply who can speak about student concerns, but who is best equipped to turn those concerns into informed and effective governance.