6000 New Students Support PTE Funding

“Over 6,000 new students across the country enrolled in private training establishments (PTEs) last year. This has increased our country’s knowledge base, rather than siphoned money from public institutions, as NZUSA suggested today”, said Kevin Smith, President of NZAPEP, commenting on a NZUSA media release earlier today.

“Growth by PTEs has not affected funding for other institutions because the current funding system is based upon student enrolments. If PTEs had not enrolled an extra 6,000 students in 2000, the $30 odd million would have stayed with the government – no university students would have benefited, but 6,000 people would not have entered tertiary education.”

“It’s a pity that NZUSA did not present any enrolment figures today. If they had checked it out, they would have seen that PTEs enrol about twice the proportion of Pacific Islands and Maori students as do universities. They also enrol more people from low-income backgrounds, which is where the university system largely fails. It is interesting that students only matter to NZUSA when they are in universities.”

“Anyone looking at growth in the tertiary education sector in the last few years will see that PTEs and wananga have grown much faster than any other group. Common factors are that both have been restricted in previous years by low subsidies and they have interesting, targeted courses that people wish to enrol in, but have not had the opportunity to do before.”

In 1998, before PTEs accessed the same subsidies as TEIs, all tertiary education enrolments grew by 4,428, with TEI enrolments growing by 4,313. In 2000, with equal subsidies, all tertiary education enrolments grew by 10,580, with TEIs growing by 4,471. PTEs have simply enlarged the market for tertiary education, while TEIs have maintained growth trends.

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