Labour, the Greens, Mana and the Māori Party all argue that student:staff ratios in tertiary education need to come down to protect quality, while National, Act and United Future have no specific policy on these ratios.

Those are the findings in NZUSA’s policy review of the political parties, Students’ Guide to Voting 2011.

The guide, which compares the seven major political parties on student income support, student debt, funding, fees, access, quality and student voice, identifies that on most tertiary education issues there is a clear difference of approach between the parties that comprise the current government and those in opposition.

On the issue of funding, the Māori Party, Labour, the Greens and Mana all advocate increasing funding to the tertiary education sector while Act, National and United Future support the existing levels of funding.

NZUSA also recently broadcast an election summit at which most of the major political parties spoke. TEU’s national president Dr Sandra Grey closed the summit with a speech that emphasised the need to make tertiary education an important public priority, not just for staff and students, but also for our communities.