Rumaki is a Maori immersion teacher education programme at the University of Waikato. This innovative initiative equips fluent Maori-speaking students with the appropriate skills to teach in Kura Kaupapa Maori (primary schools). The programme also seeks to provide continuity for many of the students that enrol in this programme, who are graduates emerging from Wharekura (secondary schools). Thus, they are accustomed to Kaupapa Maori (Maori immersion) education within which the teaching and learning styles and processes are vastly different to what they will encounter at University. This paper discusses the first-year experiences of these students in conjunction with some changes that Rumaki has undergone since its establishment in 1997. Despite efforts to cater for the specific needs of these students, many of them still find it difficult to adjust to learning at university. With reference to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, discussion identifies specific issues that imply the need for change, towards ensuring quality-learning experiences for the present and prospective graduates of a unique Maori education.