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Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne today welcomed significant progress in reducing the cost of student loan lending.

“We are committed to interest-free student loans, and want a long–term affordable scheme for both students and taxpayers,” Mr Joyce says.

“When Labour took the interest off student loans, the write-off of student loans ballooned out to 48 cents in the dollar.

The Government has today launched the new Christchurch Educated marketing initiative to encourage international students to study in Canterbury.

Speaking at the launch in Christchurch, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce said the Government was committed to working with providers to boost the number of international students studying in Christchurch.

Tertiary Education Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced three new appointments to the councils of Otago and Auckland Universities.

Sir Ralph Norris is appointed to the Auckland University Council, and Dr Royden Somerville QC and Mr Stephen Higgs both join the Council of Otago University.

“I am very pleased to welcome these high calibre council appointees into their new roles,” Mr Joyce says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced a further appointment to the Education New Zealand Board.

John Morris has been appointed as a member of the Education New Zealand Board. He replaces Ms Elizabeth Valintine whose term with the board expired on 31 August 2012.

“Mr Morris brings substantial educational knowledge, leadership experience, and international education experience to the role of board member,” Mr Joyce says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata today released two action plans which detail the Government’s work to achieve the Better Public Service targets of boosting skills and employment.

The Result Action Plans – 5 and 6 – were announced by the Ministers at the Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) in Petone.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today welcomed the announcement that IBM is teaming up with tertiary education provider Unitec Institute of Technology to establish a delivery centre in New Zealand.

Based at Unitec’s campus in Mount Albert, Auckland, the delivery centre – scheduled to open in February next year– is expected to provide jobs for up to 400 people within the next two years.

The latest Household Labour Force Survey released today underlines the need for New Zealand to take up all our opportunities for productive growth, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

“The results show that it is important we allow businesses the opportunity to grow and create jobs across the economy,” Mr Joyce says.

The Government is planning changes to the industry training system to boost the number of apprentices in training and increase the support for apprenticeship training, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce announced today.

“High quality workplace-based training that produces measurably more skilled and qualified workers is a critical part of building a faster-growing more competitive economy," Mr Joyce says.

“These changes will help ensure our industry training system delivers some of the best results in the world.”

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced new appointments to the boards of Education New Zealand and the Tertiary Education Commission.

John Spencer has been appointed as the Chair of the Tertiary Education Commission. Mr Spencer replaces Sir Harawira Gardiner who is standing down from his role on the Tertiary Education Commission.

“Mr Spencer is a highly capable individual who brings a wealth of experience in governance, finance and business”, Mr Joyce says.

Acting Immigration Minister Kate Wilkinson and Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce have welcomed today’s operation by Immigration New Zealand to take action with a number of people who are in New Zealand as a result of student visa fraud.

“This fraud was uncovered in a regular audit by Immigration New Zealand. It’s pleasing to see this kind of illegal activity detected and acted on quickly,” Ms Wilkinson says.

The Government will invest a further $1 million into Maori trades training in Christchurch, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Steven Joyce announced today.

The new initiative builds on He Toki ki te Rika, a Maori trades initiative delivered by the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, in partnership with Te Puni Kokiri and Te Tapuae o Rehua.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce will travel on Sunday to Indonesia and Singapore to highlight New Zealand as a destination for quality international education and science and research.

Mr Joyce’s visit includes attending the first formal meeting of the East Asia Summit Education Ministers in Yogyakarta on 5 July.

Hello everyone, it’s a pleasure to be here at the Symposium again. Welcome to all the literacy and numeracy educators and managers here today. 

Kiwis without literacy and numeracy skills miss out on a whole world of life opportunities and the self-esteem and independence that comes from being literate and numerate.  And, as a nation we miss out on the social and economic benefit of seeing the full potential of those Kiwis.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce today announced the Government's next steps in improving the outcomes of foundation level tertiary education.

Speaking at the Adult Literacy and Numeracy forum in Auckland this morning, Mr Joyce said the Government would accelerate the targeting of foundation education to those who need it most.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce and Minister of Education Hekia Parata today announced five Vocational Pathways to support young people progressing from school into tertiary training and a career.

“The Vocational Pathways bring together the standards and skills recommended by five broad sectors of industry and link these to study and employment possibilities. They show young people how their skills and knowledge will be valued in the ‘real world’ when they look for a job and start their career,” Mr Joyce says.

The Government’s Better Public Service targets for education are about giving more New Zealanders the opportunity to succeed, and increasing the skill level of our workforce, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata say.

The Government has two targets for boosting skills and employment: 

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Steven Joyce, today announced new and renewed appointments to five councils of Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs).

The appointments were made to the councils of the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (WITT), the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT), the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand (Open Polytechnic), Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT), and Tai Poutini Polytechnic (TPP).

The Government’s programme to collect overdue student loan repayments from overseas-based borrowers has now brought in $20 million, with a further $2.9 million under payment arrangements, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne say.

The scheme began in late October 2010 as a pilot targeting 1000 Australian-based borrowers and has recently been extended to 57,000 borrowers, largely in Australia and the United Kingdom, over the next two and a half years.

Australia and New Zealand will remain at the forefront of global radio astronomy after it was announced that the hosting rights for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope will be split between Australia-New Zealand and South Africa.

Budget 2012 rebalances the Government’s $4.3 billion investment in tertiary education between expenditure on student support and investment in tuition and research, says Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce.

“We have one of the most generous student support systems in the world. Rebalancing it allows us to free up money we can reinvest in improving the quality of tertiary education we provide, and help our overall fiscal position,” Mr Joyce says.

Key changes include:

Budget 2012 commits $158.9 million over four years to invest in engineering, science, and research-led learning in our tertiary institutions, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

“New Zealand has an under-supply of engineers and we are training about only half the number we require,” he says.

Budget 2012 continues the Government’s support for foundation training for young people, with 3,000 more places funded over the next four years under the Youth Guarantee Scheme.

“With these extra fees-free places, there will be 8,750 tertiary-based Youth Guarantee places in 2013,” Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

Budget 2012 commits $29.5 million operating spending over four years for Private Training Establishments (PTEs), to create a fairer funding system that rewards competitive innovation across the tertiary sector.

The Government is committing the funding to close the gap between the historical differential funding rates of PTEs and public providers of the same service, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Government has increased its investment in New Zealand’s universities by 13.5 per cent over the past four years, latest figures from the Tertiary Education Commission show.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce says
New Zealand’s universities continue to sustain strong financial performances that reflect the increasing size of the Government’s investment in them.