Hon Steven Joyce

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills & Employment 

2 October 2013       Media Statement       

Changes proposed to strengthen university & wānanga governance

Proposed changes to university councils will help New Zealand universities remain internationally competitive, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says.

“New Zealand universities have been performing very well in a world context, with all eight of our universities now listed in the Top 500 in the world", Mr Joyce says.

"However they face a number of critical challenges, such as greater competitive pressure resulting from massive investment in the university sector across the developing world, and the emergence of online course provision,” Mr Joyce says.

“Our universities also need to move more quickly to respond to areas of high occupational demand, attract more international students, and strategically invest to enhance their particular areas of expertise and competitive advantage.

“New Zealand universities would benefit from smaller, more flexible councils which support them to perform at a high level and to be nimbler, more adaptable, and better organised than big overseas universities.

"The proposed governance changes will, alongside measures proposed in the new Tertiary Education Strategy, assist in preparing universities for the challenges of the next 20-30 years.

“Meanwhile wānanga need councils that reflect their unique status as institutions characterised by āhuatanga and tikanga Māori.

“The current governance settings for wānanga were not written with them in mind; instead reflecting a ‘one size fits all’ approach with universities. Membership requirements do not allow wānanga much flexibility to reflect their unique stakeholders on their council.”

The proposed changes would:

•          Decrease the size of university and wānanga councils from 12 to 20 members to eight to 12 members.
•          Make council membership requirements more flexible by removing specific representative requirements.
•          Require the Minister and councils to appoint members with governance capability.
•          Clarify the duties and accountabilities of individual council members.

There would be no change to the settings for the appointment of council chairpersons and deputy chairpersons, which are currently made by councils themselves. University and Wananga Councils would also be free to retain representative positions for different stakeholder groups if they wished.

Consultation is being undertaken by the Ministry of Education. The consultation document can be found at: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/ReviewofUniversityandWanangaGovernance

Feedback from the public consultation will inform the government’s decision on possible legislative changes.
ENDS

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