Radio New Zealand reported Tertiary Education Commission figures last week that show universities and polytechnics carried $33 million worth of unsubsidised students last year.

The students were all enrolled above the 103 percent EFTS cap imposed on individual tertiary institutions.” 

The commission’s figures show Waikato and Massey universities and Tairāwhiti Polytechnic exceeded their subsidised enrolments by more than six percent.

Nelson-Marlborough Institute of Technology came close to six percent, while the University of Canterbury and the Southern Institute of Technology were more than four percent.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says the government caps have not adequately taken into account either a baby boom of young adults currently passing through tertiary education or the increase in students as a result of the recession.

“The current EFTS cap system means either potential students miss out on the chance to study through no fault of their own, or institutions, and ultimately staff, carry the unfunded workload that comes from extra students.”

Education Directions has data on individual universities, wānanga, polytechnics and OTEPs.”  Its chief executive Dave Guerin believes that despite the government’s stated hard line on breaches of the EFTS cap it is likely that institutions will work out individually negotiated solutions with the commission:

“The final result will be a matter of negotiation, and negotiations will have been going on for some time, as this trend would have been apparent back in 2009. Many ITPs had money clawed back in 2008, and this was used to fund extra provision in 2010.”