Priority Outcome 4:

What are we seeking to achieve?

The Ministry is seeking to ensure that tertiary education makes the greatest possible contribution to New Zealand’s economy and society. Individuals benefit economically from tertiary education through greater employment opportunities and higher earnings. Tertiary education helps to improve industry productivity by creating a highly skilled workforce and supporting the development of innovative ideas and processes. This has led to an increasing focus on the relevance of the skills and knowledge developed in tertiary education.

Education providers should deliver programmes and qualifications that meet the current and future needs of industries and employers. This requires a strong relationship between tertiary education organisations and relevant industry sectors to align the skills and knowledge taught in tertiary education with what is required by the labour market. It means that providers, and the funding systems supporting their education provision, must be flexible, with a focus on timeliness and quality.

Part of the function of tertiary education organisations is to conduct research across a wide variety of subject areas. The Government provides mechanisms to promote excellence in research and to support tertiary education organisations to attract and retain highly skilled researchers. As well as being high quality, it is also important that new knowledge produced by research can be applied by industry and firms and be used to develop innovative products and services that will boost economic growth and improve productivity.

Students need to be informed and supported to choose and complete high quality and work-relevant tertiary education programmes. Māori and Pasifika students need to be supported to gain high-level qualifications to ensure that they realise their potential. Students with disabilities and special education needs should have access to relevant and high quality tertiary education, with appropriate support to enable them to achieve. Workers having difficulty with the literacy, language and numeracy requirements of their jobs need opportunities to improve these skills.

The international dimension of education is increasingly important, both in terms of export revenues and the strengthening of New Zealand institutions through enhanced research and learning links, and increased international understanding for New Zealand students.

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How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

We will know we have achieved this when we see changes such as:

• New Zealand maintaining comparability with other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries on a set of indicators for high quality tertiary education
• greater levels of achievement for those learners who are currently leaving school without level 2 NCEA
• increased numbers of students from target groups completing tertiary qualifications at higher levels
• tertiary education providers working in partnership with industry and employers
• ongoing increases in the levels of student achievement per dollar invested in tertiary education
• increasing numbers of international students and higher quality links between New Zealand and foreign tertiary and research providers.

System Indicators⁸:

• Participation and completion rates in industry training.
• Participation and completion rates at higher levels in provider-based tertiary education.
• International student numbers enrolled in and completing formal tertiary education qualifications.
• Labour market returns to tertiary education qualifications.
• Non-financial outcome indicators such as well-being and health.

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What will we do to achieve this?

Providing strategic tertiary education advice:

The Ministry will provide the Government with advice on the strategic direction for tertiary education and develop a new Tertiary Education Strategy. This will be informed by the Government’s commitments for the tertiary education system to ensure that policy settings are as efficient as possible, and will include a review of student support mechanisms to ensure they are achieving the Government’s policy objectives for participation, access and equity. We will support the introduction of a new quality assurance system in tertiary education and work with education sector Crown entities to ensure that they are implementing Government policy and acting decisively where education achievement is at risk.

We will work with the TEC and NZQA to improve the relevance and responsiveness of the tertiary education system to industry and employers. This will include improving qualifications so that students and employers can easily understand the skills and knowledge they convey. We will help schools to connect with tertiary education providers, local businesses and industries to ensure smooth transitions from schools to tertiary education, training and work.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• ongoing improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the tertiary education system
• more information being available to students, employers and the public on the outcomes of tertiary education
• better understanding of the value and relevance of tertiary qualifications
• simplifying funding and accountability processes for tertiary education providers
• working relationships between education agencies.

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Researching, monitoring and evaluating the performance of tertiary education:

The Ministry will continue to develop and communicate statistics on, analysis of, and research into, the performance of the sector. Monitoring and evaluation will provide information on the progress tertiary education organisations have made in improving access and outcomes for students, the overall performance of tertiary education and the performance of Crown entities. One focus of our analysis and research programme will be adult literacy, language and numeracy.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• timely, well-targeted research into, and analysis of, the performance of the tertiary education system.

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Providing strategic policy advice and support for international education:

The Ministry will undertake or commission key pieces of research on international students and the international engagement of providers to advise Government on the strategic direction, funding and quality of international education.

The Ministry will continue to build and maintain relationships with overseas governments and education agencies bilaterally and multilaterally. This work assists in establishing and maintaining the international reputation of New Zealand as a high quality and safe study destination, and as a source of innovative and high quality education products and services. It also assists in keeping New Zealand agencies and providers updated on significant trends and developments overseas.

The Ministry will undertake a range of initiatives including:

• promote understanding of New Zealand as a high quality study destination and provider of education services
• gathering and providing intelligence on international trends for the education sector
• providing liaison services and support to enhance student mobility and international cooperation
• working with the Department of Labour to remove barriers and inconsistencies in immigration policy and practice that inhibit enrolment of international fee-paying students
• implementing changes to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students to ensure that providers offer safe and effective study destinations for international students.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• the quality and relevance of information and advice available to international students, sponsors and providers
• the quality of working relationships between Government and sector agencies with roles affecting international education
• the quality of links between New Zealand and foreign tertiary and research providers.

⁷ We will use these indicators to identify change over time, and to identify the quality and effect of that change. Most recent status and historical trends in these indicators are available on the Ministry’s Education Counts website: www.educationcounts.govt.nz