Students lodge complaint with Auditor General

Students lodge complaint with Auditor General against multi-million dollar education marketing

The New Zealand University Students’ Association (NZUSA) is calling on the Auditor General to launch an inquiry into expenditure by public tertiary institutions on marketing in light of new figures that show tertiary education institutions have spent over $17 million so far this year on marketing and promotion and over $110 million since 1999.

“The Auditor General must stop this irresponsible use of public and student money. All the evidence suggests students are not influenced by advertising,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, Co-President of the New Zealand University Students’ Association.

“It is a disgrace that our public tertiary institutions waste millions of dollars competing with each other at the same time as forcing students to pay even more in student fees.”

In a letter to the Auditor General, NZUSA noted that the amount of money spent on marketing does not constitute an “effective and efficient” allocation of funds and called for an urgent inquiry into this expenditure.

“This irresponsible waste of public and student money on marketing shows that fee increases suffered by students in 2004 were totally unnecessary.”

NZUSA will be seeking a meeting with the Auditor General to discuss the process for dealing with the complaint.

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