13 December 2001

In its fourth report, released last month, TEAC had gone a long way towards some concrete suggestions on how to move forward in tertiary education, National's Tertiary Education spokesperson, Maurice Williamson said today.

"It's unfortunate that TEAC's Minister has rejected those suggestions and, instead, released a report today that tells us nothing more than that he 'likes education'. Taxpayers should be asking for their money back.

"For example, the draft Tertiary Education Strategy states that the Government is going to 'develop the skills and knowledge New Zealanders need for our knowledge society', but what does that actually tell us?

The Strategy document is nothing more than a tome of touchy, feely platitudes which concludes by asking New Zealanders to assist the Minister in setting out tertiary education policy for the next five years by ticking a series of boxes.

"After nine years in Opposition and two years in Government, Mr Maharey still hasn't told us where he wants to take tertiary education. A box-ticking approach to policy development is a farce.

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