Union welcomes announcement of additional funding

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Association of Staff in Tertiary Education
ASTE Te Hau Takitini o Aotearoa

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Union welcomes announcement of additional funding

The National Secretary of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education Te Hau Takitini o Aotearoa Ms Sharn Riggs said today that the announcement by Minister for Tertiary Education Dr. Michael Cullen of additional funding to support the tertiary reforms will come as welcome news for Polytechnics, Institutes of Technology, Wānanga and ITOs across the sector. Ms Riggs commented that “ASTE has in general supported the direction signalled by Government towards a more strategic and collaborative sector. What has concerned us however has been the capacity of ITPs to respond to these changes which clearly will require a significant investment of resources if they are to be achieved. It remains our view that the sector is underfunded. However the fact that the Government has prioritised areas of key concerns such the level of operational and capital funding allocated to institutions and expenditure to support the sector leadership role requirements for ITOs shows that it is serious about implementing these reforms and serious about its messages around collaboration in the sector.”

Ms Riggs also commented “Our hope is that this injection of funding while not enough, will provide a degree of stability for ITPs that will enable them to focus on achieving the best outcome for students using their best resources – their staff.”

ENDS

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