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Tertiary education sector is made up of a mix of providers

In 2002, there were 35 public TEIs in operation (universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and wānanga). These providers attract the majority of formal tertiary students and EFTS funding. There were also 46 ITOs.

The largest number of providers were in the private sector, of which just over half received government funding. There was around 10 percent growth in the number of PTEs between 2001 and 2002.

Table 2: Tertiary Education Organisations, 2001 and 2002

Seventy percent of students attend universities or polytechnics

Universities continued to attract the largest numbers of formal students, followed closely by polytechnics. However, the most rapid growth has been in wānanga and PTEs. Growth in domestic enrolments in private training establishments slowed in 2001 with a series of limits on PTE funding imposed by the government.

Figure 31: Enrolments in formal tertiary education by sub-sector, July 1997–2002

Majority of funding goes to universities and polytechnics

In 2002, the government paid $1,617 million to TEOs in the form of tuition subsidies, which represents a 14.8 percent increase from 2001. The largest proportionate growth in funding for tuition subsidies from 2001 to 2002 was in wānanga which had a rise of 196.3 percent ($84.7 million), reflecting the increased enrolments over this period.

Figure 32: Total EFTS-based tuition subsidies by sub-sector, 1994–2002

Fewer public providers in financial deficit

The short-term financial position of TEIs strengthened from the 2000 to 2002 years. In 2000, 13 of the 36 TEIs had operating deficits and only 11 met or exceeded the recommended threshold of a three percent operating surplus. By 2002 this had improved to only six of the 35 TEIs having operating deficits and 19 meeting or exceeding the recommended operating surplus.

Moderate annual turnover in private providers

In 2003, there were a total of 905 PTEs registered with the NZQA, including those that do not receive any public funding. In the year to 30 June 2003, 89 new PTEs were registered and 78 were de-registered. This represents a turnover of around nine percent. New registrations were down compared with the year to 30 June 2002, when there were 93 registrations, and de-registrations were up from 64 in the previous year.

In 2003, 43 percent of PTEs (that had been registered for more than six months) were on NZQA audit cycles of two years or more. This indicates that they have robust and stable processes and have had no concerns raised in their recent audits. Fifty-five percent were on a one-year audit cycle, indicating they are either relatively new providers or have had some audit concerns raised in the recent past. Three percent were on less than one-year cycles, which means they are currently addressing quality concerns.

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• Table of Contents

• The Baseline Picture

• Cross Strategy Indicators

• Raise foundation skills

• Skills for our knowledge society

• Strengthen research and knowledge creation

• Te rautaki mātauranga Māori

• Pacific people’s development and success

• Capability and quality

• Technical and Data Definitions