Tertiary strategy could have been so much better

The Government’s draft tertiary education strategy not only lacks real vision, it also focuses over-much on employer gratification, says Labour’s Associate Tertiary Education Spokesperson Megan Woods.

“While I acknowledge the importance of having clear priorities around workforce training and economic development, this announcement is a missed opportunity to set out a bold vision of how tertiary education can play an integral role across our society and economy.

“It should be about valuing tertiary education as an investment in the future of our communities, culture and economy, not something to ease the economic pressures of our employers. A society with a flourishing tertiary education sector will gain so much more than just a bump in GDP, and we need our sector strategy to reflect that thinking.

“Crucially, the strategy fails to recognise the importance that our regions play. It should be laying down a blueprint for how tertiary education can act as a hub for strong local economies and communities, but it seems the government will continue to reprioritise the sector out of our regions.

“One of the priorities of the strategy is improving adult literacy and numeracy.  It will be interesting to see if Mr Joyce can achieve that while his Government continues to cut funding to ACE programmes.

“The consultation closes on 15 November so I would encourage people to submit and feed in new thinking to help create a 21st century New Zealand.”

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