The Ministry of Education has released its 2010 annual monitoring report on the Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-2015. The strategy, which the government released last year says the government will focus its tertiary education efforts on, among other things,  increasing the number of young people moving successfully from school into tertiary education, and increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika students enjoying success at higher levels.

The report notes that since the introduction of the 2010-2015 Tertiary Education Strategy, there have been a number of policy changes made to support the tertiary education system to achieve the priorities.  For many current students though, these policy changes are actually reviews, including a review of special admissions to universities to allow universities to set entry priorities an operational policy for industry training, a targeted review of qualifications by NZQA aimed at improving the overall design of the vocational qualification system, and a review of the government’s investments in te reo Māori.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan said that on the whole the union supports the Strategy and its focus on helping those who would not otherwise get a tertiary education into study.

“Reviews are important,” said Dr Ryan “But in many instances we already know what we need to do to increase participation in tertiary education among Māori and Pasifika. While the government continues to cut funding, remove foundation studies  pathways,  and fuel an environment of restructuring it fails to do anything that will seriously address its own strategy’s goals.”