Alliance hot on financial incentives for students

By FRANCESCA MOLD Political reporter

The Alliance is pressing the Government for urgent progress on financial issues affecting university students, including the introduction of incentives to keep graduates in New Zealand.

But its senior Coalition partner, Labour, has warned there will be little money dedicated directly to students in the upcoming Budget.

Associate Education Minister Steve Maharey said this year's Budget, and probably the next, would focus on strategic planning and quality issues for the university sector.

"There will be a shift away from what was almost an exclusive focus on students and looking at access issues to bring into centre stage the sector itself," Mr Maharey said.

Alliance education spokeswoman Dr Liz Gordon has said her party would push Labour to address four priority areas for students. They are reinstating universal tertiary student allowances and emergency unemployment benefits over the summer, attacking loan interest rates and finding ways to entice young professionals to stay at home after graduation.

The fresh focus on tertiary issues indicates the Alliance's desire to brand itself as part of the education sector.

It can afford to push for progress in areas popular with students because the party is unlikely to be shot down by Labour, which agrees with many of its ideas in principle.

The real issue for Alliance is whether it can negotiate its areas of interest into this year's Budget.

Dr Gordon has already conceded Alliance's policy of free education is not possible in this term of government.

She has picked out the controversial issue of New Zealand's alleged "brain-drain" for particular focus. Dr Gordon said young New Zealanders should be offered a loan rebate for staying here and working.

"We must get away from the culture of penalising young people for getting an education and start rewarding them for becoming part of the drive for a knowledge economy."

Mr Maharey said there had been some exploration into the idea of offering incentives, but evidence so far showed there had not been a rise in the number of students taking their skills overseas.

At least, it was not significantly above the rates of young people heading on their traditional OE each year.

"We're trying to get better information about whether it is going to build into a major issue. I think it probably will in some areas. But there is some way to go until we know the nature of the problem."

The Auckland University Students Association president, Kane Stanford, has suggested rewarding graduates by offering remission of debt for a certain amount of service done in hard-to-staff sectors, such as education and health.