Imua: Reflections on imua, talanoa-vā and leadership in the ongoing strategic journey of a New Zealand university

The appointment of the University Waikato’s first Assistant Vice-Chancellor Pacific in February 2019 was an important milestone, not only recognising years work and dedication by numerous Māori staff, but triggering a new strategic direction for ‘Pacific at Waikato’. This paper explains that journey, one is underpinned cultural legacies, strengths, values identity; built on talanoa-vā; informed research, data analytics, student community voice; combined with thought planning; outworked pan-Pacific epithet, ‘imua’. story resilience, determination, negotiating pandemic, problem-solving innovation environment seeks ‘culture belonging’ where learners are encouraged to be themselves pursuit educational achievement. will interest education providers, stakeholders policy makers.