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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. Ministerial ForewardThe word “strategy” has its origins in a military context. Military strategy is about making the best use of one’s resources to achieve a desired military objective. And in this sense “strategy” is an appropriate term for describing the Governments approach to tertiary education. This document is about a set of goals for tertiary education, and it is about how we are going to make the best use of the resources we have to meet them. But more than that, this document is about a set of national development goals and it is about how tertiary education is going to make its contribution to realising those goals. This Strategy is about a campaign that will last initially for a period of five years, and it is about how we will measure our progress along the way. This is not the kind of strategy that will be launched with fanfare, and then relegated to the far recesses of the bookshelf. This strategy will be a living entity, breathing life into a new set of institutions, and a new approach to setting priorities and funding learning. The Strategy is one for “tertiary education”, and by that I mean all of the learning that takes place in the field of post-school education and training. “Tertiary education” in this sense includes what is generally known as tertiary education and training. It is as much about what happens on the job as it is what happens in universities and research institutes. It is as much about foundation education and training which bridges people into further education and training, or into a job, as it is about world-class doctoral study. It is as much about relevance as it is about excellence. This means that a “tertiary education organisation” could equally be a university, a polytechnic, the provider of a Training Opportunities programme, or an Industry Training Organisation. It is vitally important that this more expansive and inclusive definition of what constitutes “tertiary education” is kept in mind as readers consider the pages that follow, and as the sector broadly defined and the consumers and end-users of education and training, engage with the process of the Government’s tertiary reforms. This Strategy builds from, and complements, the many things happening in schools and early childhood education to ensure that all New Zealanders develop strong learning foundations, acquire sound generic skills and can follow quality learning pathways. Tens of thousands of New Zealanders earn qualifications each year and many thousands of overseas students seek part of their education in New Zealand. Tertiary education enhances the lives of many people by contributing to their general knowledge and understanding, increasing their incomes and standard of living, and widening their experiences and interests. Our universities employ most of our top academics and house much of our national research investment. They generate new knowledge and contribute to creating a better future for many people. Our polytechnics, colleges of education and private training establishments educate people for many roles in life. Their relationships with key sectors also contribute significantly to innovation and new opportunities. Our wananga are creating new and important pathways for Maori. They have been a major factor in the recent increases in Maori participation in tertiary education. Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) play a crucial role in making the links between industry and tertiary education and training providers. Many adults also participate in the learning environments offered by the adult and community education sector. Here opportunities exist for people to extend their interests and skills in many ways. There is much in this New Zealand tertiary education system at present that is excellent, and many innovative ventures and initiatives that already exist support the vision for a knowledge society outlined here. However, at present our tertiary education system lacks a clear and shared strategic direction. Policies over the past decade have centred on raising participation rather than on building capacity. They have not rewarded quality. They have encouraged and rewarded competition rather than collaboration. They have focussed on individual institutions rather than on the capacity that the system as a whole requires. New Zealand now needs a tertiary education system that makes a strong contribution to the achievement of our national goals. It needs to be dynamic, outward looking and strongly linked with the communities of interest that it serves. It needs to equip New Zealanders with the skills and knowledge they, and the nation, need to prosper. This Strategy is intended as the centrepiece of a series of reforms of this very diverse tertiary education system. A key element of these reforms is the recognition that the tertiary education system cannot be viewed in isolation from other policies and other sectors. The role of this document is to present a vision for the development of the New Zealand tertiary education system over the next five years and to illustrate how this vision is consistent with, and linked to, Governments broader vision for the nation’s economic and social development. The Strategy is a high-level document that will be supported by other documents with a shorter-term focus, such as the Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities. These should be read in conjunction with documents which describe particular policies or instruments in more detail, such as upcoming reports on charters and profiles, funding, performance-based research, and assessments of strategic relevance. The intention here is to identify the key aspects of our tertiary education system that must change in order to make a real and substantial difference to New Zealands future development, and to outline strategies in six key areas in which we will need to lift our performance over the next five years. This Strategy is not about prescribing a “top down” approach in a detailed manner, nor is it about a rigid plan which will describe everything the system does in the next five years. Instead, this Strategy is intended as a framework for thinking about improved tertiary education outcomes and a set of signals that will need to be interpreted in different ways in different parts of the system. But activities that are to be funded from the public purse will need to be consistent with this overall strategy, and with the goals and outcomes discussed in the pages that follow. This means that tertiary education providers and organisations like Industry Training Organisations will need to use this document as a guide to their planning in the short-to-medium term. The Treaty relationship with Maori is a central element of the tertiary education reforms. In preparing this Strategy, the Government has recognised that Maori are not just another stakeholder group and has sought to build on the understanding reached with Maori through the Hui Taumata process and to ensure that Maori experiences and aspirations have been reflected in the development of this document and the wider reform package. Extensive engagement with Maori has occurred by means of regional hui and with the support of the Ministry of Education’s Maori Tertiary Reference Group. A Draft Tertiary Education Strategy 2002/07 was released for public consultation in December 2001. 121 submissions were received on the draft document and 50 workshops were held. The feedback received during this consultation process is reflected in this version of the Strategy and is analysed in more detail in the Appendix. During consultation, Maori emphasised the importance of greater regional and national collaboration between providers and Maori communities and stressed the need to improve accountability to Maori at every level of the tertiary education system. It was seen as important that changes were implemented in a manner that supports a strong partnership between the Crown and Maori. Although this document looks to a five-year horizon, it is not intended as a static plan that will remain unchanged over the period. A key aspect of this Strategy is the ongoing strategic dialogue which supports it and which will ensure that it remains a dynamic and living document. Effective implementation will require a partnership between Government and a wide range of stakeholders, including the sector itself, and the regions, industries, and communities that it serves. The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) will be a key implementation agency for this Strategy, but it will not be the only one; nor can any single stakeholder entity succeed in achieving the vision articulated here on its own. Successful outcomes will require co-ordination across a number of Government portfolios, departments, and agencies, particularly between Education, Research, Science and Technology, Social Development, Health, Maori Affairs, Pacific Island Affairs, Economic Development, Labour and Employment. As these agencies and stakeholders work together to implement this Strategy, they will need to find new ways of working together on the key issues facing tertiary education. From Changes and refinements of this Strategy will undoubtedly arise out of the new forms of cooperation and collaboration the Strategy seeks to encourage. And it is essential that we find ways to ensure that such businesses and communities, in addition to providers and local and central government agencies, are part of the partnership that underpins the implementation and refinement of this Strategy. In many respects this process of ongoing strategy review and development, begun in the consultation workshops and to be continued by the TEC, is as important as this plan itself. As we work together to create the vision outlined here, we face many challenges. We will need to make some tough decisions at times. As a small nation with low economic growth at present, we will be continually challenged to do more with less and to spend the money we can afford wisely. We will face difficult policy co-ordination issues at both local and regional levels. We will be required to find a new balance between competitive and collaborative forces. We will need to balance a tertiary education system that has very successfully encouraged high levels of participation with the development of niche areas of specialisation and world class capability. These challenges are also exciting opportunities to be innovative and to improve education outcomes. By working together, by focusing firmly on the future needs of New Zealand, and by learning from our mistakes, we can create a superb and dynamic tertiary education system which will be the envy of other small nations and which will help us to secure the economic growth we need and the prosperous, confident nation and distinctive culture to which we aspire. I commend this Strategy to you. It represents the Government’s commitment to a tertiary education system broadly defined that meets the tests of relevance, excellence, and accessibility for all New Zealanders. Steve Maharey Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) ← He Kupu Whakataki | Index | Introduction → |
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