More students are staying on to complete training at MIT in areas of need, such as construction, says Gus Gilmore. File photo / Supplied
More students are staying on to complete training at MIT in areas of need, such as construction, says Gus Gilmore. File photo / Supplied
Opinion
COMMENT
Derek Cheng's article "One third of fees-free students fail or withdraw from course" (NZ Herald, September 8) highlights the way early intervention and pastoral support has to be offered alongside educational subsidies to ensure the best results for learners and taxpayers.
Critics of fees-free like to portrayit as middle-class welfare for families whose children are going to university anyway.
But it's in South Auckland, MIT's home, where fees-free is making the biggest difference and where its success or otherwise should be judged. Bucking national trends, overall our fees-free students have recorded higher completion rates compared to the rest of the local intake by 4.5 per cent.
If you break down these numbers for Māori and Pasifika students, this margin increases to 6.8 per cent and 8.2 per cent respectively.
Fees-free was always going to be a bold way of breaking the cycle keeping our community locked into dead-end jobs that will disappear during a downturn.
There will be a number of reasons for this. But it's likely the policy has unlocked a new group of learners who had been considering tertiary study for a while but the debt they would have to carry to make this step forward put them off.
The benefits of investing in encouraging these learners not just towards education, but high-value employment are huge for themselves, their families and the country as a whole.
The careers we prepare our students for – including nursing, construction, tourism, early childhood education, digital technologies – is a checklist of the skills the New Zealand economy needs to grow.
In Ōtara, where MIT was founded close to 50 years ago, the 2013 Census found only 14.5 per cent of people over the age of 15 had an annual income of more than $50,000. However, if those same people have the barriers to study removed for them, the outlook changes dramatically.
Ministry of Education data collected in 2017 found our graduates had the highest employment rate and among the highest median incomes when compared to those who had attended other New Zealand polytechs and universities, five years after study.
Fees-free was always going to be a bold way of breaking the cycle keeping our community locked into dead-end jobs that will disappear during a downturn. It backs people who are taking control of their lives, making positive choices to flip the script.
That said, we have a responsibility to not just make education accessible but also provide support to students to be successful – many of whom will be the first in their families to study at tertiary level.
Manukau Institute of Technology recently introduced a Summer Success Academy where new students are helped to come up with plans for budgeting, childcare as well as transport to-and-from course to ensure they get through.
Gus Gilmore. Photo / Supplied
Hokule'a, an early intervention programme designed for Māori and Pasifika students focusing on combating the risk factors that increase the likelihood of non-completion, was piloted in engineering and trades.
It's early days in the programme's development, but results have been pleasing, with a 26 per cent increase in retention and a 23 per cent lift in completion for those involved.
When fees-free is targeted at those who need it most, and complemented with wraparound support, the policy is making a real difference and would do even more if extended throughout a student's years of study.
