Greater Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education

15 September 2004

Greater Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education

A Quality Commissioner appointed to investigate student complaints against private tertiary education providers will help to strengthen public confidence, Secretary of Education Howard Fancy said today.

"The establishment of a free external complaints resolution service for students at participating private institutes is a positive step.

“The Quality Commission scheme sees a group within the industry taking greater responsibility to protect student interests and in doing so will increase public confidence in the whole tertiary education system,” Howard Fancy said.

The scheme, set up by the New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers (NZAPEP), is independent and employs a Quality Commissioner.

“The independence of the Commission together with the services of Nadja Tollemache, a former Ombudsman and Banking Ombudsman as the first Commissioner, should give students increasing confidence in the integrity of the member providers,” Mr Fancy said.

“The Ministry encourages the NZAPEP to ensure that the scheme provides a complementary role to those processes already in place in government agencies,” he said.

ENDS

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