Tertiary funding will only support quality courses, Mallard says

The relevance of tertiary education courses to New Zealand's skill needs will be the priority that guides funding through to the end of 2007, Education Minister Trevor Mallard said today.

Releasing the Government's Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities (STEP), he said the aim was to help people, and the country, become more innovative, more skilled, more productive and more prosperous.

"Low quality courses and providers have no place in a publicly funded system. Funding will shift away from this sort of provision," he said in a statement.

"Funding priorities will go on the high quality tertiary education provision that is relevant."

Mr Mallard said vocational programmes with relatively poor employment outcomes would not be a funding priority.

"Neither will programmes that only relate to personal interests or hobbies, and have no other benefit.

"Instead our targets for funding will include programmes that match our skill development needs."

Programmes targeted for funding would be those that equipped people with the basic skills necessary for them to get jobs, or for further education and training, he said.

The latest STEP sets out priorities for the tertiary education system from now until December 2007.

Under it, government agencies and tertiary education organisations will work together to focus on:

* taking responsibility for, and actively working to improve, the quality of their teaching to ensure students get the best value possible;

* ensuring access to excellent education and training that is relevant to students' needs and the needs of employers, communities and the country; and

* enabling knowledge, teaching and research activities to better support innovation and the social, economic, environmental and intellectual development of New Zealand.

Funding changes will start next year to focus on the quality and relevance priorities.

- NZPA