Government Should Reward Effective PTEs

Government Should Reward Effective PTEs
Media Release 2 December 2003

“The Government’s attempt to free up private tertiary education funding is a welcome shift in policy direction but it only loosens the straitjacket that PTEs operate in. We need to keep on working to get the best value for money from the Government’s funding commitments. $23m that could reward effective PTEs may be poorly used this year”, said Dave Guerin, ITI executive director.

Hon Steve Maharey released decisions on private training establishment (PTE) funding for 2004 today. PTE funding will be $150m in 2004.

“PTE funding is currently segmented into a cap for each of the 200 plus PTEs that receive EFTS funding. If any one PTE fails to reach its cap then the money can not be used anywhere else in the PTE sector. What we need is a way to reward the providers that are doing a great job, thereby helping New Zealand students reach their career aspirations.”

“TEC predicts that $23.2m will not be used in 2003 because some PTEs have not met their targets, but others have exceeded their targets considerably. Steve Maharey should consider a wash-up funding round in early 2004 so that successful providers can be reimbursed for their many unfunded students. This would enable successful providers to keep up their resourcing levels and continue to provide great courses.”

“ITI would prefer that PTEs are funded on the same basis as public providers, which are funded for every student enrolled, but the changes we suggest here are simple, practical changes that will benefit students and better utilise current funding allocations. We hope to work with the Minister on these issues in the near future.”

- Independent Tertiary Institutions (ITI) is a group of 15 high quality private tertiary education providers enrolling over 6,000 students pa.

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