Tertiary reforms a rat's nest of uncertainty

new-zealand-national-party

Thu Aug 23 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Tertiary reforms a rat's nest of uncertainty

Thursday, 23 August 2007, 2:29 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Dr Paul Hutchison MP
National Party Tertiary Education Spokesman

23 August 2007

Labour's tertiary reforms continue to cause confusion among students and undue stress on tertiary providers, says National's Tertiary Education spokesman, Dr Paul Hutchison.

"How many more millions must Labour spend on untested reforms at the expense of education?

"The latest bureaucratic nightmare to be inflicted on the sector is Labour's intention to split the current subsidy received by students 70/30.

"This means up to 30% can be used for purposes other than direct support for course fees. Labour is creating a trough of funds that will come under the control of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

"Students are uncertain about how much their course fees will be subsidised and tertiary providers are left with yet another tangled bureaucratic strand in the rat's nest of Labour tertiary reforms.

"The indications are that Labour has cut 24% from wananga subsidy rates, 21% from polytechnics, and 8.5% from universities in favour of a TEC-controlled slush fund.

"The new intake of students is only months away and tertiary institutes need to know now if their investment plans have been settled. It seems increasingly unlikely TEC will be able to provide any surety in time.

"Labour's record of continually reforming the tertiary education sector has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been spent on education.

"It is frightening that, once again, Labour is charging ahead with reforms that have no legislation in place to support them and are likely to prove very expensive.

"Meanwhile, students and educators are left in a void of uncertainty - the only sure thing being that, where Labour is concerned, incessant change is the only inevitability."

ENDS

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