Tertiary education programmes that don't deliver results face
the axe as the Government runs the ruler over the sector.
Prime Minister John Key yesterday signalled a shake up when
he told Parliament "urgent problems" in tertiary education
had to be addressed.
"We are concerned that as a consequence of previous ad-hoc
policy changes, there are a large number of tertiary
programmes, particularly below degree level, that have
drop-out rates as high as 50 percent, and that some of these
programmes fail to properly equip students for the jobs they
seek," he said.
"We simply must improve the value we get from our tertiary
education investment, both on behalf of taxpayers and
employers, and on behalf of the students who take these
courses."
Mr Key said the Government would this year work on policy
changes needed to ensure tertiary education providers
delivered courses that were relevant to the modern job market
and were of a consistently high quality.
He also signalled changes in student support, saying the
Government wanted to make sure that "taxpayers' generosity"
was not being exploited by those who refused to take their
tertiary studies seriously or showed little inclination to
move into work.
