Joyce pulls ladder up behind him

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Mar 23 2010 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Joyce pulls ladder up behind him

Tuesday, 23 March 2010, 3:59 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Joyce pulls ladder up behind him

Labour’s Tertiary Education Spokesperson, Maryan Street says Steven Joyce’s mixed academic results as a student would not have made the cut under his new tertiary education funding model based on students' pass rates and he may well have been denied the opportunity to enrol a second or third time.

According to Massey’s Student Magazine, ‘Like many students, Steven Joyce’s university career didn’t go according to plan. But for a quiet word from a careers counsellor, he might have started off adult life as a university drop-out. He had missed the cut for the veterinary intermediate course in 1981, enrolled instead as a chemistry major but withdrew after two weeks, opting finally, but reluctantly, for zoology.’

“Steven Joyce is looking to deny students the same educational opportunities he had " , Maryan Street said

“He, better than anyone else, should understand that tertiary education is often not a linear journey. And many students - like him – start with one goal in mind, and end up achieving something very different when they complete their studies.

“Mr Joyce seems to be pulling the ladder up behind him. On one hand he is telling students that university is more about learning how to learn and then with the other taking away the opportunity for them to gain from a university education as he did.

“Instead of looking at the complex range of reasons why people fail at tertiary education, and finding ways of addressing those issues, the government is risking our standards and reputation in order to make our tertiary education system as cheap as possible to the government,” said Maryan Street.

“Another risk the government is taking is that students will be denied the chance to re-enrol or be trapped in courses they don't enjoy and therefore risk failing," she said.

"None of these options will give the government the value for money they are seeking with this policy" said Maryan Street

ENDS

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