An Asset for the Region
Published on 4 June, 2026
Above: Representatives of the University of Waikato, Foster Construction, Chow Hill and Colliers outside the site for the new medical school building. Photo: Stephen Barker / Good Local Media.
Originally published in the Waikato Business News, Tuesday 2 June 2026.
By Margaret Wilson, Chair, Momentum Waikato.
The campaign for the NZ Graduate School of Medicine revives memories of 36 years ago when Te Piringa Faculty of Law opened at The University of Waikato as the country’s fifth law school.
While the circumstances differ, concerns raised now echo those back then around the Law School - will the graduates practice their profession in the Waikato?
Such local educational opportunities were not available for my legal studies in the 1960s. I had to go to The University of Auckland, and although my fees were paid, it was still a financial stretch for my family.
I never imagined when I graduated in 1970 that I would be the founding Dean of Waikato’s Law School in 1990, a role which made me conscious of how important access to a university education is to people across the region.
The fact the Law School in its first year attracted over 1000 applications for less than 200 places demonstrated that need. Many of those who enrolled then were ‘mature students’ from the Waikato, a cohort the new Medical School is now aiming to attract.
I’m not familiar with research on the number of lawyers practicing in the Waikato who graduated from its university, but I do know that after initially going elsewhere, many later returned and now hold senior positions here in law firms or legal institutions, including the judiciary. Those Waikato-trained lawyers also contribute locally through belonging to school committees and the like, or by giving free advice to charitable organisations.
Above: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, left and Waikato-Tainui chair Tukoroirangi Morgan shared the task of turning the first sod at the site. Photo: Stephen Barker / Good Local Media.
‘Good things take time’, but we can be confident the doctors who graduate here will likewise work and volunteer in our communities in the years ahead.
The Waikato is now the fastest growing region in Aotearoa and has a diverse population with a wide range of skills and experiences. To reach its full potential, it not only needs good educational opportunities, but also reliable access to medical advice and treatment, regardless of who you are or where you live.
People in the Waikato are resilient and able to foresee future community needs, so work tirelessly to meet them. It is not always easy - with little government capital funding, it was the commitment of local people that opened the Waikato Law School.
By comparison, the Waikato Medical School is being built with state funding, but its future students will still need financial support to access it. Which is why Momentum Waikato Community Foundation, which I now chair, will be seeking donations and gifts-in-Wills for an endowment fund to support scholarships and placements for new medical students.
Just as the Law School did, the Medical School is pioneering a new form of education focused on provincial needs. With time, it will bring benefit to the people of the Waikato, and New Zealand as a whole.
Above: Visitors, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Hamilton mayor Tim Macindoe, are welcomed into Waikato University for the ground breaking for the University of Waikato Medical School. Photo: Stephen Barker / Good Local Media.
