Hon Bill English National Party Education Spokesman

19 July 2005

Tertiary education in chaos

An in-depth report by government officials shows Labour's tertiary education policy is in a state of chaos, says National Party Education spokesman Bill English.

The 'Education Sector Review' was carried out by the State Services Commissioner, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

"These experienced public servants lay out in painful detail how hundreds-of-millions of taxpayers' dollars wasted on low-value, sub-degree courses," says Mr English.

"The report finds that no single person had oversight of the budget and no one was in charge of quality control. It also finds that public agencies were unable to agree on what their specific roles were and what outcomes were expected.

"According to the report, the Ministry of Education, the Tertiary Education Commission and the NZQA do not talk to each other, they quarrel over their legal powers and don't have the skills required to implement the policy."

Mr English says the report is a powerful indictment of Labour's mismanagement of the tertiary sector.

"Helen Clark's alleged 'star' Ministers, Trevor Mallard and Steve Maharey, have spent millions on bad policy and a bloated, dysfunctional bureaucracy. Only a change of government and new political leadership can end this chaos."

ENDS

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