National’s tertiary target falls short

new-zealand-labour-party

Wed Jul 10 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

National’s tertiary target falls short

Wednesday, 10 July 2013, 6:36 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Minister of Tertiary Education, Stephen Joyce is failing to meet his own better public service targets. His attempts to get more New Zealanders qualified to level 4 are missing the mark, says Labour’s Tertiary Education spokesperson Megan Woods.

“In Parliament today Mr Joyce attempted to put a positive a shine on concerning projections. He may have been claiming that “very good progress” was being made towards the 2017 target of 45,000 people aged between 25-34 achieving a level 4 or higher qualification, but weighing on his mind must have been the 25% projected shortfall on this target.

“Budget papers show that Treasury predicts the Government will fall 11 250 people short of their better public service target. Treasury estimated that 3 500 people would come through migration, leaving a gap of 7750 people.

“There’s nothing wrong with setting targets and striving to achieve them, but the National Government has explicitly set out to dampen demand for tertiary education.

“Treasury also suggests that to meet the targets the minister will need to ‘stimulate additional demand’. National is doing the opposite.

“Minister Joyce and the National Government need to stop treating education as a cost to be cut and squeezing the sector for every penny.

If they’re truly committed to achieving these coveted targets they set for themselves, they should treat education for what it is, an important investment in our country’s future.”
ends

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