New Zealand Executive Government Speech Archive

Introductions.

As all of you here probably know, its almost 5 months since I became Minister
of Education. For me, its been a case of intense tertiary education! - 5
challenging months of concentrated learning and practical action. Im now
well-schooled in the intricacies of tertiary fees, student loans, EFTs,
curriculum reform, teacher supply, and polytech politics.

Education, obviously, is a very large and demanding portfolio, encompassing
everything from early childhood, through primary and secondary schooling, to
tertiary education and industry-based training. We must be fair to all parts
of the sector. That requires a lot of balancing.

No-one becomes Minister of Education hoping to be popular.

The other day I saw one of those automatic screen savers that said God put me
on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now Im so far behind
I will never die. I sometimes feel that this portfolio is like that. There
are a number of things I want to achieve, many of them in the tertiary sector,
as I believe that education is the most important public policy investment we
can make to secure the future.

Over the last few years there have been huge increases in across-the-board
funding. In the coming year we will spend about six billion dollars on
education. While recognising the importance of education, we also have to be
reasoned and responsible, and not simply react to the areas of loudest noise.
Confrontation politics may seem exciting, but at the end of the day they
achieve little real progress. Its usually a case of more heat than light.

Im here today to cast some light . Your question is Which Partys policies
will improve access to tertiary education in New Zealand? My answer is going
to be
National. No surprise. But its not mere party politics. Let me explain why
and how I think our Government is improving access to tertiary education for
all New Zealanders.

Under National, since 1990 the number of students participating in tertiary
education has significantly increased - it is up by 50%. To be precise, the
total number of tertiary students has increased from 141,456 in 1990 to 212,068
in 1995.

There has been a very big increase too in the numbers of students coming from
minority groups. And we intend to increase the number of government-funded
places in tertiary education by a further 10,000 between 1996 and 1999.

I hope youve absorbed all those numbers - Ill be asking questions later!

Some parties have claimed that that first year student numbers are now
dropping. They are wrong. Student numbers this year have not fallen. They have
in fact risen overall by 2 percent in spite of the fact that last year saw the
smallest number of school leavers that we have seen for 4 years.

The so-called sharp decline headlined by others was arrived at by comparing
last years July figures with April of this year. Not only did they leave out
the fact that there were fewer seventh formers overall to move on to tertiary
education; they ignored changes of definition of first-year students at some
institutions that made a mockery of the figures.

Whether or not we should charge fees for tertiary education is one of the areas
of debate.

When I was at University we used to protest loudly about the levels of
Government assistance, and I am sure that every generation of tertiary students
will continue to do so. Its part of student life - and as such Id hate to
see it go, even though I am now the target!

I want to spend a bit of time discussing fees and student loans.

First the question of whether we should charge fees. I want to read you a quote.

I belive the State should remain the predominant funder of education, but there
are also private benefits and that means that the individual student has to
make a contribution

That was said in 1988 by Phil Goff, then Labours Minister of Education.

National has accepted the Todd Report recommendation that there is some private
benefit in a tertiary education.

At the margins this is easy to see - a lawyer earning a huge salary could not
have done it without a tertiary qualification - a law degree. The law degree is
his or her meal ticket. The same applies to accountants, engineers, doctors,
dentists, and many others.

The Todd Group research showed that those with degrees generally do enjoy a
significantly higher lifetime earning capacity compared to those without
degrees. We know that graduates generally expect their years of study and
consequent qualifications to be recognised in salary packages.

In the past the policy has been quite unfair. To be in a trade, you had to do
an apprenticeship. That was the tradespersons meal ticket. But if you did a law
degree enabling you to earn a far better income generally, you had your
training pretty well at the expense of the taxpayer, even though most taxpayers
never had a show of earning that sort of money.

Therefore the argument is that there is both public and private benefit in
tertiary education - public through improved outcomes for New Zealand, and
private in enhanced earning ability.

When we considered this option we accepted Todd Group Option A, under which
three quarters of the tuition costs of New Zealand students will be met by
taxpayers generally, and the remaining quarter by the individual student.
There is work currently being done on the cost categories, but the Ministry of
Education advised me, for an answer to a Parliamentary Question on 16 July,
that the estimate of the current level of taxpayer contribution to the cost of
tuition over the nation as a whole is 78%. By deduction the level of student
contribution is 22%.

Obviously if we accept a fee structure for tertiary, we want to be sure that
lack of money at the time is not a barrier to students attending. To enable
students to meet their share of tuition costs, plus textbooks and living
expenses, we therefore introduced the Student Loan Scheme.

Student loans are not subject to either income or asset tests. They mean that
tertiary education is now available to everybody who wants it, as you dont have
to produce cash up front. The loans are not paid back until borrowers are in
full-time employment. Low income earners dont have to make repayments. Any
interest not paid is written off.

As of September 1995, 117, 332 students have taken on loans, and the average
total owed by each is $5,889.

The threshold for loan repayment is being increased in line with the minimum
wage. As I have said before, we are looking at the scheme to make sure all
parameters are fair and reasonable.

Despite what they may say, I do not believe that any of the other parties will
move away from this approach - unless they have a secret agenda to
introduce some other unpalatable elements like limiting entry to courses.

Another factor is student allowances. For years there was criticism of the low
levels of participation in tertiary education by the sons and daughters of
low-income families. Student allowances are in place to attract people from
that background into the tertiary sector; they are targeted to students from
lower income families.

This year the allowances have enabled almost 50,000 students from low-income
families to take up further education.

Another element that impacts on costs to students is the efficiency of the
institution they study at. Accountability and cost-effectiveness is an on-going
issue. All tertiary institutions are autonomous and independent under the
1989 Education Act. The Government spends over $1.1 billion dollars on tuition
subsidies, and Polytechnics and Universities set their own fees. Students have
much to gain from cost-efficient management - as Lincoln and Waikato students
have recently demonstrated!

National supports quality management for tertiary institutions. We have
recently set up the Tertiary Reference Group as a forum for consultation on a
number of reforms.

Diversity and choice are a strong argument for Nationals policies. Now
students have access to a huge range of courses. The tertiary sector is
expanding rapidly to meet growth in student numbers - you can now choose to
attend a Technical Institute, University, a private training establishment or
specialist provider to gain the education and training you want.

To close, let me run through a few further achievements of the past 6 years.

Minority group participation in tertiary education has increased
significantly. The number of Maori students is up by 158% , and Pacific
Island peoples by 119% since 1990.

The Graduate Employment survey of 1995 showed that the number of graduates in
New Zealand has doubled since 1986. More of them are finding jobs, and they
are earning more.

Here at AIT access for all has increased. Student numbers have risen from
8,890 in July 1991 to 10,085 in July 1995. The provisional figure to April
this year is 10,383. Your proportions of Maori and Pacific Islands students
have grown - and you may have noticed that women now make up 57 and a half
percent of all your students!

National is committed to improved, quality education for all New Zealanders.
Our policies have, and will continue to, increase access to tertiary
education. In this case, the figures do tell the story.

I am happy to answer your questions.