Opening remarks

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā hau e whā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. My warm greeting to you all.

Thank you for the opportunity to open this higher education summit. It is a privilege to speak about shaping the future of tertiary education alongside the eminent national and international speakers here today.

Global economic context

This summit takes place at a critical time. The economic conditions we face have highlighted the role of tertiary education as a key driver of our country’s cultural, social and economic well-being.

These same conditions motivate New Zealanders to enter tertiary education to better their employment and income prospects. Providers and government are facing a wide array of challenges as a result.

It is a time for serious thought and focussed action.

This summit and its research and innovation forum are an opportunity to work together, to strengthen global networks – both across tertiary institutions and between the education and business sector. There is also much we can learn from each other – I’m sure Australia’s experience of the Higher Education Review will be of interest.

The challenge we all must meet is to continue to influence our own future in the face of these global pressures. It will not be an easy process, or a simple one, but it is one I am certain we can achieve.

Government priorities

Our Government came into power with a clear set of priorities for tertiary education. We want to:

• simplify the tertiary education funding system


• reduce central bureaucracy


• strengthen quality and require accountability


• support and encourage students, and


• improve the interface between schools and tertiary education institutions.

Work is underway on all of these goals. Achieving them will present challenges for both Government and the sector as a whole. However, it will also present opportunities to build a stronger, more responsive tertiary system.

Participation in tertiary education has increased rapidly over the past decade and the cost of tertiary education has also grown significantly.

This government is extremely concerned about the impact of the recession on 15 to 19 year olds, particularly those who leave the education system early and are not in stable jobs. We are putting in place programmes, like the Youth Guarantee, to make sure we have good education and training options for these New Zealanders. Equally, we are concerned at the lack of progress that has been made by the sector on people completing degrees. The number and rate of degree completions in the last decade has not improved and this represents a wasted investment.

We have had to make the difficult decision that our country cannot continue to meet the growing costs of tertiary participation by simply expanding the number of places in tertiary education.

We don’t have the financial resources at our disposal that we had in the recent past. We have to work smarter to find ways to do more with what we have.

We need to reduce the Government’s administrative costs and the compliance costs faced by providers. We also want less central planning – in other words, the needs of students and the economy should have a bigger say in driving the provision of tertiary education.

We are committed to improving the efficiency of the tertiary education system to maintain its effectiveness and ensure access for priority groups is not compromised.
We can help do this by prioritising spending where it can most benefit students and the economy.

We have many options available to improve the tertiary system, including increasing flexibility for providers within their allocated funding, incentivising providers to respond to the market, and introducing a range of administrative efficiencies to the planning and funding system.

We want providers to respond better to the needs of students and employers. As part of this, we want to make information about provider quality more publicly available so prospective students can make informed decisions about what and where they want to study.

We also want to reduce the growth of provider qualifications, particularly at sub-degree level, to make it easier for both students and future employers to find out what is in a qualification and what skills will be gained from it.

Tertiary Education Strategy

The new Tertiary Education Strategy will set the direction for tertiary education in New Zealand over the next 5 to 10 years. It will be more concise than the previous strategy and reflect broad policy directions.

These will include improving fiscal management, simplifying the funding system and government administration to increase provider flexibility, enhancing quality, improving transitions into tertiary, and improving system performance for Māori.

Ultimately, we seek to ensure that more New Zealanders are achieving at higher levels of tertiary education.

We will consult later this year on the draft Tertiary Education Strategy, setting out the Government’s vision for tertiary education. I encourage you all to provide feedback. Your suggestions are valuable and will be carefully considered.

Youth achievement

More young people must complete tertiary education. This includes helping them to gain recognised qualifications that lead to employment and involves both secondary and tertiary areas.

Reviewing both unit and achievement standards of the NCEA in senior secondary schooling is part of this. So is the work on Trades Academies, trades in schools, and the  initial roll-out of the Youth Guarantee Scheme which will also provide opportunities for those 16 and 17 year olds that aren’t engaged at school to pursue education in a tertiary setting.

As an example of where we are heading, Trades Academies will provide to school-aged students opportunities to undertake trades and technology programmes.
They will be based on partnerships between schools, tertiary institutions, industry training organisations and employers. Currently we have 11 plans for Academies that are now at the stage of putting together a business plan.

In addition, plans are underway to launch the country's first Tertiary High School at Manukau Institute of Technology in 2010. The Tertiary High School will offer a course of study to students in years 11-13 who have been identified by their schools as unlikely to succeed in a conventional school setting, but who are motivated to succeed in a tertiary setting, and whose parents support them in this move. 

Lifting system performance for Māori in tertiary

As Minister of Education, I am absolutely committed to achieving change for Māori in education at all levels of schooling. The tertiary sector is critical to the revitalisation of tikanga, mātauranga, and te reo Māori through teaching and research.

It is important that all tertiary providers are accountable for achievement by their Māori students and to build partnerships with their local iwi and communities.

Wānanga have played a significant role in encouraging tertiary education participation for Māori, and I acknowledge their tremendous achievements here. However, I expect all tertiary providers to consider how their environment and teaching practices can improve for Māori students.

This is part of a broader process through which we must ensure that all sectors of New Zealand’s increasingly diverse population are achieving at the tertiary level.

E-learning resources

This summit is firmly focussed on the future and it would be impossible to do so without considering the opportunities of e-learning for the education sector.

E-learning in its various forms is changing the way our tertiary education institutions are teaching and supporting their students. It is making it possible for students, employers and providers to work together – no matter where they are in the country. It is also making it possible for a wide range of experts to share their knowledge with students and industry.

Many of you will be aware of the Otago University podcasts, available on Itunes. Not only does this increase the access to the knowledge being created and disseminated in our institutions, but also eases the pressure on the bricks and mortar that traditional institutions have relied on.

E-learning is increasing the relevance of tertiary education by providing students with skills that industry needs, and that will allow them to effectively participate in the 21st century.  

There is untapped potential in the areas of provider responsiveness, value for money and sustainable ways of operating.  Effectively managing e-learning is vital for the future of tertiary education in New Zealand.

I am delighted to take this opportunity to endorse a set of long-awaited e-learning resources collaboratively developed by the Ministry of Education, the Tertiary Education Commission, Ako Aotearoa (the National Centre for Tertiary  Teaching  Excellence), and the sector.

Following research and development we now have, for the first time in New Zealand, a wide range of national and international expertise and evidence in tertiary e-learning.

These resources will help address key challenges facing the tertiary sector. The knowledge and guidance these resources provide is particularly valuable for organisational leaders and for educators. They will assist with planning and making strategic and investment decisions, and they will support teaching and learning to achieve your student outcomes. 

The tools include:

• a guide to strategic management for e-learning


• an e-learning maturity model that provides an internationally-recognised capability development framework


• e-learning guidelines for educators providing practice strategies to ensure students gain the most possible from their e-learning experiences, and


• a range of videos for students new to e-learning.

I am confident that these resources will help support high quality e-learning, and make a significant contribution to the shape of future tertiary education in New Zealand. Congratulations once again to those who developed them.

Concluding remarks

Collectively, the delegates attending this conference have the power to help shape the future of tertiary education in what are undeniably challenging times.

We need to ensure that our tertiary system is responsive to the needs of students, employers, communities and the New Zealand economy.

I encourage you to keep that in mind as you participate in this Summit, and I wish you well for the next three days.

No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, huri noa te ruma, kia ora mai tatou katoa.