Experiment results in no teaching materials

Tertiary Education Union
30 November 2012

Funding experiment leads to education providers with no teaching materials

It seems that the Tertiary Education Commission has, in its haste to implement the minister’s level one and two contestable funding experiment, made rushed assessments of several private training providers’ preparedness to teach courses early next year.

The Chief Executive of Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr Peter Brothers, said yesterday his institution has been approached by some private training providers who are looking to buy curriculum and teaching materials because they bid for courses that they have not been previously teaching.

Those private training providers won the right to teach courses after the government rushed through a decision to change the way it funds level one and two foundation studies courses.

As a result, the Commission took millions of dollars of money from established local polytechnics courses and gave it to private providers and other providers.

TEU had heard rumours that several of those providers had no course materials, no teachers and no space to provide the courses for which they successfully bid. Dr Brothers comments appear to confirm those rumours.

"It seems the minister’s hasty decision to implement this funding experiment at short notice has led the Tertiary Education Commission to take money off well-established, publicly-owned polytechnics and award it, in some cases, to private providers with limited experience of these programmes, no classrooms and no materials," said TEU National President Sandra Grey.

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