Education groups unhappy with planned tertiary shake-ups

The Government's planned shake-up of tertiary education is an attack on students and polytechnics, education groups say.

Prime Minister John Key today announced the Government would find solutions to the "increasingly urgent" problems faced by the tertiary education sector, which he said suffered under an inflexible funding and policy framework.

He singled out courses with high drop-out rates, and said policy changes were needed to ensure courses were of a high quality and relevant to job opportunities.

He also indicated policy changes to ensure financial support was not exploited by those who did not take study seriously, or those who studied more for personal satisfaction than for future employment.

Tertiary Education Union national president Tom Ryan described Mr Key's comments as an attack on "the very institutions and people who can most help him achieve his professed goal of up-skilling our country's workforce".

"The tertiary education sector can help ... but not when the Government continually whittles away its funding streams, caps student numbers, and treats staff and students with contempt," Dr Ryan said.

New Zealand Union of Students' Associations co-president David Do said the Government's efforts to increase the quality of education should not come at the expense of hard-working students.

"The Government appears to be hinting at tightening eligibility for loans and allowances. This will hit students who are already struggling to make ends meet," he said.

"We reject the characterisation that students do not take their studies and work seriously. Many juggle part-time work with full-time study, and borrow to live from the student loans scheme simply because they are not eligible for student allowances." The changes were welcomed by others, however.

"Under the current system there is no process to ensure that funding committed to tertiary education is targeted to the areas where there is a clear skill demand," Industry Training Federation executive director Jeremy Baker said.

"It is our long-held belief that much can be done to better match what is funded in tertiary education with the skills that are needed by industry."