Fund Private Training Fairly - ACTivists

Funding for private training establishments (PTEs) should be determined on the same basis as State-owned tertiary training providers, according to youth group, ACTivists.

ACTivist President, Gavin Middleton, said that far from bleeding money from the public system, private training providers provide choice, and enable students to be trained in a wide range of skills which State-owned universities would never be willing or able to teach.

Gavin said “private providers include institutions as diverse as the Cut Above Academy, New Zealand Institute of Sport, Avalon Film & Television School, the Sir George Seymour College and the Ardmore Flying School. Many Iwi have set up PTEs to lift Maori participation in tertiary education and to teach Maori tikanga.”

”Private training establishments are an example of School Choice working in the tertiary sector. The Tertiary Education Advisory Committee (TEAC) found that private training providers increased diversity and quality across the tertiary sector.”

“Labour, full of university lecturers who look down on other forms of tertiary education, stomped on private providers in the last term of government, freezing funding and introducing a moratorium on new courses.”

“Instead of falling for the PTE Strategic Priorities Fund, private institutions should demand a return to the Equivalent Full-Time Student (EFTS) system on an equal basis to public institutions.”

“The new Government could go a long way towards redressing this imbalance by following TEAC’s advice that private training providers should be funded in the same way as State-owned tertiary training institutions” Gavin Middleton said.

ENDS

For more information, contact:
Gavin Middleton
(+64) (021) 505495
president@activists.org.nz
http://www.activists.org.nz

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