bilingual education programmes. Bilingual schools The unit also established a network of bilingual schools, and schools interested in developing bilingual programmes. It distributed a newsletter and planned a series on teaching methods to be called nga toemi - little hand-nets in which bits of useful information have been caught. Researcher training An important strand of work for the unit was the training of young M?ori researchers, a project begun with the recruitment of fieldworkers for the survey and the setting up of research internships. Seventeen internships were awarded between 1978 and 1986. It evolved into a post-graduate level programme, which provided students with aspects of research expertise and experience which the particular university courses they had taken were not able to provide. Another theme throughout its history has been its efforts to build contacts with  individuals and representatives of institutions in New Zealand and overseas whose research interests were similar to its own. It used letters, publications, presentations in its dissemination efforts, and staff had extensive informal contacts.