Government's Review Of Tertiary Education

The White Paper presenting the results of the Government's review of tertiary education will be released on Wednesday 18 November 1998.

The White Paper presents policy directions for tertiary education for the 21st Century, and follows the publication of a Green Paper and a lengthy consultation process. (More than 380 formal submissions were received.)

"The White Paper defines tertiary education policy for the future," Education Minister Wyatt Creech said. "All New Zealanders must have the opportunity to learn at the tertiary level, not only when they leave school but increasingly throughout their lives.

"The Government must ensure that our tertiary system has the capacity and ability to meet the full range of students ' needs, we must ensure that the quality of tertiary education improves over time and compares favourably in international terms. Finally, we must achieve this at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer."

The White Paper will include decisions on matters such as governance of tertiary institutions, monitoring and accountability, research and quality assurance.

"Considerable analysis and work has gone into finalising the White Paper. We are setting the policy directions for tertiary education for the next 20-30 years, and we have to get a system that works and delivers quality education for students and the country as a whole.

"The options chosen from the menu put forward in the Green Paper are sensible and moderate - the sort of "they are going to privatise everything" reaction from some more extreme elements will be proved wrong."

A key decision on funding tertiary education was announced in the Budget with the establishment of the Universal Tertiary Tuition Allowance which will see the removal of the cap on the number of student places funded. An extra $155 million over three years will pay for the Universal Tertiary Tuition Allowance.