Commission announcement heralds change
Today's announcement of the membership of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission marks the beginning of a period of major change for tertiary providers, according to Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey.
Mr Maharey said today that he had appointed Dr. Jonathan Boston, Tony Hall, Dr Patricia Harris, John Ruru, Dr Linda Sissons, Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Dr Ivan Snook to the Commission which is being established to provide advice on strategic issues in tertiary education. The Commission will be chaired by Dr Norman Kingsbury. Dr Kingsbury is also appointing Sir Colin Maiden as Special Advisor to the Chair.
"The eight Commissioners will be putting together a series of reports for me which are going to change the way the tertiary sector looks.
"Beginning
with an initial wide-ranging Issues Paper, the Commission
will also give the Government advice on:
setting
up a funding system that promotes institutions working
collaboratively with one another;
funding
research in a way that encourages national and international
levels of excellence, rather than duplication from campus to
campus; and
obliging institutions to work out
what they are good at, in order to determine their subject
specialities and to promote their distinctive contribution
within a whole system.
"New Zealand is a small country. We need to make best use of our resources to ensure quality tertiary education is available throughout the country. The Government wants to build a coherent tertiary education system where each institution is encouraged to play to its strengths.
"The Commission will give the Government advice on how tertiary institutions can meet the challenge of being 'nation-builders', providing the skills and innovation expertise New Zealand will need to operate as a knowledge society.
"We have already committed $450 million to reducing the costs that students face in getting a tertiary education. The next priority must be getting the system right," Steve Maharey said.
Contact: Michael Gibbs, Press
Secretary, (04) 471 9154 or (025) 270 9115. Biographical
details of members of the Tertiary Education Advisory
Commission and summarised terms of reference are
attached.
. . / 2
Membership of the Tertiary
Education Advisory Commission
Norman Kingsbury (Chair) is
the Chief Executive of NZQA. He has broad, high-level
experience, gained over an period, with the various types of
providers that make up New Zealand’s tertiary education
sector. This has included experience as Chair of the New
Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit, and of the New
Zealand Polytechnics Programmes Committee; both
organisations responsible for assuring the quality of
tertiary education, involvement in educational opportunities
for Maori, and in the implementation of major changes within
the sector. He was foundation Registrar for the University
of Waikato and foundation member of the Waiariki and Bay of
Plenty Polytechnic Councils.
Professor Jonathan Boston is
Professor of Public Policy at Victoria University. He has
specialised in tertiary education policy. He was a member
of the 1999 Ministry of Education Research Funding Reference
Group.
Tony Hall is the Director of the Academy Group, a
private training establishment specialising in a range of
educational and vocational options. He has experience in
the private education sector, and tertiary education
programmes such as Training Opportunities Programme,
Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource programme, and
industry training. He was a co-founder of the New Zealand
Association of Private Education Providers.
Dr Patricia
Harris is a prominent scientist and the Corporate Manager,
Science and Technology, at AgResearch. She has a strong
understanding of research policy, particularly scientific
research, both as a practitioner and from a strategic
perspective. She is a director of the Health Research
Council, member of the FRST Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Committee, and the Food and Beverage Exporters
Council.
John Ruru is a forestry management consultant.
He has a strong business background and Maori development
experience. He has experience with industry training, is a
director of Cedenco Foods Ltd, and Chairman of Te Aitanga A
Mahaki Research Unit.
Dr Linda Sissons is the Chief
Executive of Hutt Valley Polytechnic. She has experience in
the polytechnic sector, knowledge of issues relating to
women and education, and has a background in continuing and
distance education. She has been a member of the Board of
the Electricity Supply Industry Training
Organisation.
Associate Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith is
Director of the International Research Institute for Maori
and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland. She
has experience in research, policy, wananga, and Maori needs
and aspirations for development. She was a member of the
National Advisory Committee for the Employment of Women, a
founding member of the establishment group for Kura Kaupapa
Maori, and Academic Advisor for Whare Wananga O
Awanuiarangi.
Emeritus Professor Ivan Snook is Emeritus
Professor of Education at Massey University. He has
extensive experience in the pre-service and in-service
education of teachers both at colleges of education and
universities. He has been involved with various teacher
groups and Polytechnics, and has published extensively on
education issues. He was also the Foundation Chairman of
the Human Ethics Committee.
Sir Colin Maiden, Special
Advisor to the Chair, is an experienced company director and
former vice-chancellor of the University of Auckland.
Tertiary Education Advisory Commission
Summarised terms
of reference
Education provided by tertiary education providers is vitally important to New Zealand building a true knowledge society and achieving economic benefits. The quality of our knowledge and skills base will determine our future success in the global economy and as a cohesive society.
Government's vision for the Tertiary Education
Sector
In order to become a world-leading knowledge
society that provides all New Zealanders with opportunities
for lifelong learning, New Zealand needs:
a more
co-operative and collaborative tertiary education sector;
a commitment to excellence in teaching,
scholarship and research;
a greater sense of
partnership between the key contributors to the
sector;
a commitment to the nation's future
direction by all those involved in the sector,
an environment where participation by all is
encouraged
an environment where the needs of
Mäori are supported, and which gives recognition to the
Treaty of Waitangi and its principles;
a sector
that fully supports regional and local communities; and
well-managed institutions and providers that
work together to meet the education and research needs of
the nation.
The Commission's Role
The Commission is a
Ministerial advisory body that will provide advice to the
Minister on the strategic direction, and will carry out
further specific reviews as agreed with the Minister. The
work of the Commission will focus on the sector as a whole
rather than on individual institutions.
The Commission's
Work
The Commission will initially develop a strategic
direction for tertiary education in New Zealand. The
initial work will involve the fleshing out of Government’s
vision for tertiary education that will best serve New
Zealand’s human capability development into the future. The
aim shall be to produce a high–level strategic direction
which has wide acceptance that will endure over the medium
to longer term.
Over the term of this Government the
Commission will be asked to provide advice on:
the future 'shape' of the sector;
opportunities
for increased collaboration and co-operation;
how tertiary providers and students can be best positioned
to provide and participate in courses of study that
complement New Zealand’s social, economic and regional
needs;
the basic principles to guide funding for
research in tertiary education; and
the basic
principles to guide Government’s approach to financial
support for tertiary education that recognise the differing
cost of different education content.
Commission
Membership
The Commission will comprise up to eight
strategic thinkers selected for their vision, expertise and
credibility. They will have the ability to reflect upon the
outcomes sought from tertiary education, evaluate
approaches, and find innovative solutions to complex
problems. There will be an appropriate balance of gender
and ethnicity, public/private sector,
education/research/business/community, Maori, and
international/New Zealand expertise on the
Commission.
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