Summary - Tertiary Education Strategy monitoring 2009

Engaging with the strategy

Critical issues for the current strategy

The information in the monitoring reports highlights a number of critical issues for the success of the 2007-2012 tertiary education strategy.

A quarter of secondary school students leave school and do not go on to tertiary education, either at a provider or through the workplace. Māori and Pasifika young people continue to be less likely to go into tertiary education. Also students who go into certificate study below the age of 18 are unlikely to progress to a higher level. There is more that tertiary education organisations can do to work with schools to ensure more students go on to tertiary study and complete higher-level qualifications.

Developing a more skilled workforce is critical to New Zealand’s future prosperity. Raising the literacy, language and numeracy skills of the workforce is part of this. Recent evidence suggests the need for an increased emphasis on numeracy.

Improving the match between the skills and qualifications gained through tertiary education and the demand for skills and knowledge in the workplace will remain an important area. In areas such as engineering, building and some specialist health areas, there is a clear case for more graduates with advanced qualifications. In most areas, improving the relevance of the qualifications is as important as, or more important than, increasing the number of graduates. This requires tertiary education organisations to continue to develop their relationships with business and industry to address long-term skill needs.

Improving research connections with business and industry requires more than just the provision of new information and knowledge in order to increase innovation. Tertiary education organisations and businesses also need to work together to recognise and address issues around management capability, costs and improving the skills and knowledge of the workforce.

Tertiary education sector response

Analysis of the 2008 to 2010 investment plans reveals cautious engagement by tertiary education organisations with the current tertiary education strategy.

Most of the engagement is around ‘success for all New Zealanders through lifelong learning’ and focuses on improving participation and retention of students under 25, developing capacity in literacy, language and numeracy and responding to demand for trade, technical and professional education.

Universities have made significant commitments to ‘creating and applying knowledge to drive innovation’. Much of their focus is on increasing research revenue from business and industry, which is used as a reporting measure of their engagement. Polytechnics have responded to this area in terms of increasing their involvement in technology development and transfer. And wānanga are looking at their contribution to the ongoing development of mātauranga Māori.

Polytechnics have been actively working to  develop a shared understanding of how to address education and training needs in their  region. Industry training organisations are further developing their leadership role to meet the training needs of industry.

All sub-sectors are looking at how to increase their engagement with their communities of interest and ensure that they are better meeting their needs. However, there is a tendency to look to satisfaction surveys as a measure of progress, which could result in over-surveying if taken too far.

Economic changes

The economic situation of New Zealand has changed markedly since the strategy was released in 2006. At that time, the country had been through a period of sustained economic growth, which was starting to decrease (from 5 percent annual growth in 2003 to 3 percent in 2006). Growth in labour productivity had also decreased as more lower-skilled workers were brought into employment. Unemployment was low at 3.8 percent in December 2006. The policy focus at that time was on how to sustain further growth through investment in the skills and knowledge of the workforce.

New Zealand is now in recession due to major global economic shocks and unemployment is rising. Most of the increase in unemployment so far has been among those with no school or tertiary qualifications. The current policy focus is on how best to manage the country through a difficult economic period, while continuing to make strategic investments for the long term.