Summary

The Tertiary Education Strategy 2002-2007 (TES) sets out the government's medium-to-long-term strategy for tertiary education:

• it articulates the broad goals for the tertiary education system
• it provides a vision and direction on how the tertiary education system can meet the needs of students, research users and wider stakeholders
• it sets a framework to guide planning and funding.

There is an expectation that the progress of the tertiary education system towards the goals of the TES will be monitored. The Ministry of Education has been given the responsibility for this.

The 2004 Monitoring Report

This first annual monitoring report tracks the progress of the tertiary education system against the TES during the initial period of the implementation of the tertiary education reforms from 2002 to 2004. The emphasis during this period has been on developing infrastructure and implementing new policy. As such, the report considers early indications of direction within the sector and the overall progress of policy implementation.

The report builds on the Baseline Monitoring Report which provided a view of the tertiary education system at the start of the TES and before the implementation of the tertiary education reforms.

Key findings

The report shows that the TES is beginning to make a difference in the shape of the tertiary education sector. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve the goals of the TES.

Participation in tertiary education is increasing - but the focus needs to be on greater excellence in teaching, learning and research that will see more students completing qualifications and achieving at a higher level.

There is still considerable scope to build more active connections with stakeholders to increase the relevance of tertiary education and research to meeting national goals.

Some groups of learners, including Māori, Pasifika and people with disabilities, continue to be underrepresented in some areas. Greater efforts need to be made to increase their successful participation at higher levels of achievement.

Purpose of the report

This report is provided to enable:

• tertiary education organisations to better shape their own goals and objectives in line with national goals and objectives, and through dialogue with their stakeholders
• stakeholders to be better informed about the connections between tertiary education and their own social and economic goals
• the tertiary education system to achieve greater alignment with the goals and aspirations set out in the TES and make a greater contribution to the social and economic development of the country
• government to develop policies in further support the achievement of the outcomes defined in the TES.