Student Exclusion Policies Ignore Student Population Growth

Students are suffering because universities and the Ministry of Education are wilfully ignoring an increase in potential students says TEU national president, Dr Tom Ryan.

Dr Ryan's comments follow news that Massey University and the universities of Canterbury and Otago are all toughening their student enrolment standards.

"The Ministry and universities both know that there is a baby boom-blip of 18 and 19 year olds currently trying to get into tertiary education. There is pressure for places. The current rhetoric about excluding underperforming students ignores the reality."

"It is not just under-performing students who are missing out, but young people who genuinely want the chance to study and better themselves. If we want to meet the minister's goals of increasing New Zealand's productivity and wellbeing, by increasing the number of young people engaged in study, especially Maori and Pasifika, then we need to be improving access to universities, not diminishing that access."

"The benefits for the whole country of getting new people into university education are too precious to pass up by pretending that the only people being excluded are not up to the task. We need more funding, more access, and more opportunities for our young people. Instead we are seeing funding cuts and fewer opportunities," concluded Dr Ryan.

ENDS

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