LABOUR’S VISION

Investing in education is an economic and social necessity, and we will invest as much as we possibly can.

Our tertiary education system will be driven by, and rewarded for, a focus on excellence, relevance and access. This includes a commitment to removing barriers to participation.

LABOUR’S RECORD

We have:

- Tackled the old unfair student loan scheme. Now no full time student and no part timer on a low income pays interest on their loan while they are studying.

- Frozen the tertiary fees for the last two years.

- Established the Tertiary Education Commission and developed a Tertiary Education Strategy.

- Implemented a new funding system that rewards performance and reflects strategic priorities.

- Established five Centres of Research Excellence to support world-class research.

LABOUR’S PRIORITIES

To continue to keep the costs to students of tertiary education down we will:

- Widen student allowance eligibility for single full-time students aged 18-24 by raising the parental income thresholds.

- Work with all parts of the sector to develop a system of establishing maximum fees.

- Extend student loan scheme eligibility to part-time, part-year students in approved courses.

- Introduce scholarship and bonding arrangements to address pressing recruitment and retention issues by reducing the burden of student debt.

- Undertake a thorough review to look at the best way to further support students.

To ensure our tertiary education is world class and meets our future needs we will:

- Support and fund the new Centres of Research Excellence.

- Implement the new Tertiary Education Strategy so that tertiary education meets the needs of business and the community.

- Focus attention on the training and development of tertiary-level teachers.

- Increase the new funds available for the Performance-Based Research Fund to $20 million a year by 2006.

To foster life long learning we will:

- Resource adult and community education and increase the capacity of this sector.

- Build on our Literacy Strategy to improve adult reading levels.

For the full policy visit www.labour.org.nz or contact Steve Maharey at Parliament.

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