Dangerous Signals for Tertiary education

Dangerous Signals for Tertiary education

“Tertiary education and students are under threat from this government,” says Maryan Street, Labour’s Tertiary Education Spokesperson.

“In his statement yesterday the Prime Minister said that they were going to ‘take a careful look at the policy settings around student support’,“ she said.

“What does this mean? That they will make access to student loans and allowances harder? That will make tertiary education opportunities in universities and polytechs available for the few, not the many,” she said.

“He referred to students who don’t take their studies seriously or who don’t get a job quickly after qualifying. Who will determine who is one of those students? Will student support stop after a graduate degree and prevent people from choosing post-graduate study? What about students who need more support to succeed because they have started further back from the starting line than others?

“I see students who work at their studies, at part-time paid work often for low wages and struggle to make ends meet. Setting up criteria for discontinuing student loans or allowances is dangerous, elitist territory. John Key is threatening students who put up with a low income now so they can study and contribute to the country’s wellbeing in the future. Right now he looks like he is going to punish them for doing that. But first he will hit them with a higher rate of GST just to make things even harder.

“What if there aren’t jobs to go into? What about the redundant workers who are wanting to enrol in courses to improve their skills and need allowances and loans to do that? What about students with disabilities who find it difficult to get employment and so continue to study to improve their quality of life?

“There is also the veiled threat of lifting the cap on fees institutions can charge contained in Mr Key’s reference to ‘an inflexible and bureaucratic funding and policy framework’. This looks like tertiary education will soon be the sole domain of the rich but New Zealand’s crying need is for the upskilling of the many, not the few.

“If Mr Key wants a ‘step change’ in the New Zealand economy, where does he think it is going to come from if not post-compulsory education and training? He should be nurturing and investing in it, not threatening it,” said Maryan Street.

ENDS