Minister obscures impact of falling Postgraduate numbers

NZUSA Media Release – Friday 22 November 2013

Minister obscures impact of falling Postgraduate numbers

The government has delivered further proof today that New Zealand’s reputation as a place to aspire towards attaining postgraduate qualifications is being run down by changes that withdrew student allowances from postgraduate students.

“In putting his name to the release of the latest enrolment figures today, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce obscured the fact that there have been 700 fewer enrolments compared to last year in postgraduate diplomas, certificates and Doctoral degrees by saying that this sharp decline equates to ‘little effect’,” says Pete Hodkinson, President of the NZ Union of Students’ Associations.

“All that has been achieved, is more students shifting down the ladder into undergraduate Bachelors degrees with honours – where students who meet the criteria retain eligibility for student allowances.

“It is blatantly disingenuous to claim that a decline of more than 5% for some levels of qualification amounts to ‘little effect’ on the pathway for gaining postgraduate qualifications, particularly given that short-term grandparenting provisions to support currently enrolled students expire next month.

“We are especially concerned that by pulling up the ladder on that pathway, the Minister is continuing a trend towards making the benefits of higher education less and less affordable for students from low-income families”.

Hodkinson said the latest figures from Statistics New Zealand on employment rates for 20-24 year-olds make the Minister’s claim that more young people are moving back into work, rather than accessing tertiary education opportunities, false.

“Both the unemployment and employment rates for young people are static because the economy itself is proving very static for those age groups. What we need to be seeing is a government that is encouraging an expansion in the tertiary education sector, not one that is overseeing a managed contraction.

“The road this is taking us down can only dumb down the future prospects for our intellectual prosperity as a nation. It has too many unforeseen and negative long-term consequences that the Minister doesn’t seem to be acknowledging”.

ENDS

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