These pages contain the original text of the Tertiary Education Strategy documents. Only edit content if you notice the text is inconsistent with the final published document. Feel free to develop your own cross references and index structure.

Overall Priorities for the Tertiary Education System

The New Way of Thinking about the Tertiary Education System

Over the period 2003–04, government expects that all stakeholders will be engaged in developing the tertiary education system outlined in the TES ¹. This will entail developing new types of strategic dialogue and relationship-building to give affect to the new ways of thinking and working outlined in the TES. The system will become, over this period, more strongly driven by quality and performance. Any additional public investment will begin to be linked more closely to erformance.

The key priority for the period of this STEP, therefore, is continuing to develop the infrastructure and processes that will support the new tertiary education system. While implementing the six specific strategies outlined in the TES will be important, establishing the system and changing behaviours and attitudes to reflect the new ways of thinking and working will be the primary concern of all stakeholders over the next few years. In this regard, the key change messages outlined on pages 18–20 of the TES are a useful guide to the types of behaviours government expects to see as the new system is established.

Establishing the new system requires a co-ordinated approach by all participants, whether they are agencies, TEOs or other stakeholders. For the reformed system to operate effectively and in accordance with the key change messages outlined in the TES, the evolution to the new system should not be wholly government driven. All participants will need to work closely together to make these reforms a success.

System Reform: Priorities for Agencies

Agencies will need to align their work programmes with the directions outlined in the TES, taking a broad perspective on the tertiary education system and its contribution to New Zealand’s transformation into a knowledge economy and society. Agencies, and particularly the TEC, will be interested in the overall portfolio of tertiary education provision and the contribution it makes to the national goals outlined in the TES.

The TEC has a key role in shaping this future. During this period the TEC will need to develop a strong and credible organisation, to put in place new policy instruments and to build strong relationships across the system.

The TEC will undertake further work, in conjunction with other agencies, to implement policy instruments such as the assessment of strategic relevance and the integrated funding framework. In this respect, quality information will also be vital to the TEC. Government will look to TEOs to provide quality disclosure to the TEC, which will validate, aggregate and analyse the information received. This baseline information will inform ongoing analysis of system capability and the priorities for and design of future policy and investment in the sector.

Another critical priority for government agencies will be the development of system-wide data integration and performance measures for inclusion in a monitoring and evaluation framework or ‘scorecard’. This data will be collected in a number of forms, such as the Single Data Return, the National Student Index and the Tertiary Data Warehouse. It will be used to build a much more comprehensive picture of our entire tertiary system so that the TEC and the MOE can monitor and evaluate its performance. The ability of organisations within the tertiary system to attract and retain public money will increasingly depend on their performance.

Other education agencies, such as the NZQA and Career Services, will need to work within the context provided by the TES and in close relationship to the TEC. The TEC and the MOE will work closely to develop and embed new policies and instruments across the system.

Education agencies need to co-ordinate these activities with the work of the many other central and local government agencies that have a stake in the new tertiary education system, including the social and economic development agencies. The TEC in particular will aim to work effectively with other transformational agencies such as the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and local and regional economic development agencies.

Crown Entity Reforms and Governance

During the period covered by this STEP, a series of reforms are planned that will affect Crown entities’ governance and accountability arrangements. These will affect TEIs and education Crown entities such as NZQA, the TEC, Career Services and the Teachers’ Council. They will include changes to the Public Finance Act. The government is also considering including TEIs as a separate category within the proposed Crown Entities Bill to be introduced in late 2003. This approach will continue to recognise the distinct characteristics of TEIs within an overarching Crown entities’ framework. TEIs will be consulted on the implications before any final decisions are made.

The Edwards report on New Zealand Tertiary Education Institution Governance provides a basis for TEIs and TEOs to consider improvements to their own governance practices. While Edwards also recommends some legislative changes (on which no decisions have been made by the government as yet), a number of her recommendations can be implemented by TEIs themselves.

System Reform Priorities for Tertiary Education Organisations

For TEOs of all kinds, the highest priority will be working with their learners and other stakeholders (businesses, other employers, iwi, communities, etc.) to integrate and reflect the change messages and strategies outlined in the TES in their own strategic and business planning. This strategic management and planning will then be a guide for TEOs’ ongoing dialogue with the TEC on key strategic issues, and the development of their charters and profiles.

Improved strategic management and governance across the system are critical to the establishment of the new system and to the effective implementation of the TES. Strategic and business planning must be grounded in effective relationships between TEOs and their communities of interest, and must permeate activities at all levels of the organisation. Plans must illustrate the distinctive contribution made by an individual TEO to the overall portfolio of provision across the system.

Summary of New System Priorities

In summary, priorities for establishing the new system over the period covered by this STEP are:

understanding the key changes and strategies articulated in the TES and incorporating them into the internal planning, strategic and business processes of all tertiary education organisations;
introduction of a new Crown Entities Bill/Public Management Bill with implications for TEI governance, accountability and reporting arrangements;
the enhancement of the stakeholder approach to tertiary education institution governance by adopting improvements based on the Edwards review of TEI governance;
the development of a system-wide monitoring and evaluation framework or ‘system scorecard’;
the implementation of new funding and steering instruments, such as charters and profiles, the assessments of strategic relevance, the Innovation and Development Fund, and the Performance-Based Research Fund;
the enhancement of quality information about the tertiary education system portfolio and current levels of performance;
the maintenance of capability supporting tertiary information systems such as the Single Data Return, the Tertiary Data Warehouse and the National Student Index; and
the continuation of the dialogue amongst stakeholders established during the public consultation on the TES and the exploration of collaborative relationships across the system.

¹ The reforms are given legislative force by the Education (Tertiary Reform) Amendment Act 2002 that amends the Education Act 1989. (↑)

← Overview - The Tertiary Education Strategy 2002-07 | STEP2 | Section2 →

STEP 2 Section 1

Overall Priorities for the Tertiary Education System

The New Way of Thinking about the Tertiary Education System

System Reform: Priorities for Agencies

Crown Entity Reforms and Governance

System Reform Priorities for Tertiary Education Organisations