Hon Steven Joyce

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment

23 September 2016

Feedback sought on Tertiary Education Amendment Bill

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has today released an exposure draft of a bill that makes a range of changes to tertiary education legislation.

The proposed Education (Tertiary Education and other Matters) Amendment Bill makes a number of largely technical proposals for legislative change which:

• increases the flexibility of funding
• further strengthens monitoring and compliance
• creates equitable treatment of tertiary education providers.

The Bill is also an opportunity to look at some minor matters that need updating.

“We are seeking feedback from stakeholders on whether the draft legislation is clear and easily understood, whether there are likely to be implementation issues, and the potential impact of these proposals on tertiary education organisation and students,” says Mr Joyce.

“The draft legislation proposes to adjust the Education Act 1989 to enable the plan-based funding system to operate as parliament originally intended,” says Mr Joyce. “The proposals would allow for more flexibility in the funding framework and improve accountability in return.”

“Introducing the requirement that Private Training Establishments are funded on the same basis as public tertiary institutions for directly comparable programmes or activities will ensure that tertiary education providers are treated equitably, regardless of whether they’re public or private.”

“The proposed legislation will also allow Wānanga to apply for Ministerial consent to describe themselves using the terms university, college of education, polytechnic or institute of technology. This change would potentially allow Wānanga to be able to promote themselves more easily to the international education market, and give them the same right to seek consent to use these terms that private training establishments have under the Act.

The proposed Bill also contains changes that respond to issues raised by the sector. Consultation closes on October 10th.

A copy of the draft Bill, background information and Cabinet paper and information on how to make a submission can be found here.

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