Cutting funding to Private Providers is next step

Cutting funding to Private Providers should be TEC’s next step

“Government must cut funding to Private Training Establishments and invest in public institutions and students,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, New Zealand University Students’ Association (NZUSA) Co-President, in response to the Tertiary Education Commission’s paper on the roles of different institutions.

“Public institutions are starved of funding and students are forced into huge debts to get a tertiary education while private training establishments continue to receive millions of dollars of public funds,” said Fitzsimons. “In recent months, more and more serious concerns about the quality and viability of these PTEs have emerged.”

“Government need to invest in public institutions whose primary focus is the public good and not private training establishments who judge their success by how much money they make. This is the only way forward for a strategic tertiary education system.”

The Tertiary Education Commission pape suggests that universities should focus on increasing postgraduate student numbers.

“The government has shown little commitment to postgraduate students by excluding them from fee regulation and restricting access to allowances,” said Fitzsimons.

“The TEC and the government can tell institutions till they are blue in the face to increase postgraduate student numbers but more students will simply not enrol while they face so many barriers to study.”

ENDS

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