‘Increasing tertiary education quality is important, but making it accessible to all is equally vital. There are tens of thousands of young people not in education, employment or training who we need to reach.’
New Zealand sits at around the OECD average (42%) when it comes 25-34 year olds holding a tertiary qualification (40%). Yet countries which we typically compare ourselves to have much higher proportions, such as Australia (49%), the United Kingdom (50%) and Canada (59%). Gee says this shows that we can do better when it comes to tertiary education participation.
‘People around the world have said that the best anti-poverty programme is education. Tertiary education results in more stable work, better health over time, reduced incarceration rates and higher employment. Greater tertiary education participation is ultimately good for New Zealand. We can do better.’
ENDS