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The government should be investing in our future by investing in education. 

We need to invest in New Zealanders who will carry us into a socially and economically successful future, but consistent under-investment in education is forcing unis and polytechs to stretch resources and threaten the quality of our education system. Demand for places is increasing, student : staff ratios are already high, universities and polytechnics are already being told to do more with less, but overall funding to tertiary education is forecast to fall a further $500 million from 2010 to 2015.

Why invest in public tertiary education?

Our education system is a public asset that benefits everyone and needs investment to operate.

A well-educated society benefits New Zealand as a whole. Tertiary education is vital to New Zealand's sustainable economic future and ensures our citizens enjoy a good standard of living in a society that has the necessary skills and capabilities for the nation to grow and function in an increasingly global economy.

An investment in tertiary education is an investment in New Zealand's future, but falling Government funding over the past few decades is putting the quality of our education at risk.

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How does under-investment affect you?

As constrained funding to institutions continues, many have been forced to find more and more 'efficiencies', often at the expense of quality teaching.

Recent years have seen increases in class and lecture sizes, and increasing staff : student ratios. Contact time with students has reduced, and staff numbers have not increased as classes have grown bigger.

With new students coming and going each year, it can be hard for the individual on the ground to see the bigger picture of continued underfunding. But over the years the cumulative impact is putting quality at risk.

As the tertiary institution funding gap increases between New Zealand and the rest of the world -particularly Australia - our institutions will continue to lose out in the global market for academics and teachers. An increased emphasis on research and an ageing tertiary workforce also means the quality of teaching and learning opportunities diminishes.

Rationalising of programmes and courses on offer has been widespread, with the loss of many smaller courses and departments, reducing choice and the quality of our graduates. While New Zealand might not need hundreds of Women's Studies, Russian, Maori Studies or Film Studies graduates every year, we do benefit from some people studying in these areas, yet these are some of the very disciplines being undermined and shut down in an effort to save costs in an environment of underfunding.

While New Zealand has excellent and strict regulations for the creation and establishment of courses, the woeful lack of monitoring and evaluation of programme closures at our public tertiary institutions is concerning – particularly when the only reason appears to be to save money, and has nothing to do with a need (or not) for particular graduates.

You might also notice fewer book or periodical purchases in the library, or reduced hours on some campus services. It might be harder to book in for a session at the learning support services to get help with your essay, or to get careers advice.

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When did we start under-investing? 

Over the last twenty odd years we've shifted the balance of responsibility for funding our public tertiary institutions away from public (government) investment and towards private funding ('user-pays').

Individual students are contributing a significantly increased proportion of the funding to universities and polytechnics compared to what they did in the past. Prior to the 1990s the Government funded tertiary institutions and students were only required to pay a small administration fee of around $100.

The 1990s saw a huge shift away from this funding model, beginning with Labour's introduction of a flat tuition fee of $1250 in 1990. The election campaign that year was fought on the tertiary fee issue, and the National Party campaigned on removing it. Upon election, they promptly did just that – but they also allowed institutions to set and raise tuition fees themselves.

Alongside this unregulated fee setting system the National goverment reduced government funding to these institutions, which immediately saw tuition fees skyrocket through the 1990s, and continue to climb in the years since. Levels of government funding comparative to pre 1990s were never recouped.

Research conducted by Deloitte for the Tertiary Education Union and Universities New Zealand revealed New Zealand Government funding is significantly less than that of Australia, and that we have a much greater reliance on student tuition fees to fill the gap between government funding and operating costs than Australia does. Our institutions are struggling and we're out of step with our nearest neighbours in how we prioritise education.

Expenditure on education is not an optional extra to be put to one side until economic growth allows. Public tertiary education is one of the most important social and economic investments that our nation can make. With overall funding forecast to fall by hundreds of millions of dollars in the next four years, what will be the future of public tertiary education in New Zealand?

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How can we start adequately investing? 

Adequately funded tertiary education is not an expensive option when put in the context of recognising the social, cultural and economic advantages and value that are gained through an educated population.

Smart choices are going to have to be made to ensure that New Zealand is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities brought by tertiary education. 

The government should:

1. Commit to a sustained boost in tertiary institution funding, to help address education quality and staffing issues. The Australian government has committed to a substantial multi-billion dollar boost to universities, vocational support, and student support, as well as properly linking institution funding to the costs of running an institution. Why can't we do that?

2. Fully fund tertiary education through progressive taxation.

3. Control tertiary institutions' expenditure on low-value advertising and marketing. It doesn't work, and this is scarce money that should instead be going into education.

What can you do?

Get involved!

Sign on to the campaign; join in with what students are doing on your campus to raise awareness of the issues that will affect students nationally, get in touch with your students' association to see what you can get going on your campus and like Demand A Better Future on facebook.