Performance data can’t hide government’s lack of investment in Tertiary Education

Labour’s Tertiary Education spokesperson Grant Robertson said today’s release of the tertiary sector's educational performance indicators are an interesting read but do nothing to address the real problems facing tertiary institutions across the country.

Grant Robertson said while information was useful it was difficult to read too much into the first release of this data. The real test will be what future reports show about how performance has improved and what it tells us about the progress students make.

“Within the criteria assessed the report does show that most universities and polytechnics are doing a satisfactory or good job. For some institutions that have not performed well there may be special circumstances, but others, particularly in the polytechnic and PTE sector have some explaining to do about poor course completion rates.

"We should be careful not to make sweeping judgements about institutions from this data given the number of external factors that affect performance like the background and readiness of students.

“One shortcoming of the data is that it is presented across institutions. This does not give students much in the way of useful information about particular courses. To get a real indication of the quality of courses it is important we look at student satisfaction surveys, quality of teaching and other indicators.

“Although the performance data is interesting information, it should not obscure the real issue which is the lack of investment by the government in tertiary education.

“There is a growing concern in the tertiary sector that during a time when it is essential that we lift economic growth and recover from recession Steven Joyce is focused on bureaucratic criteria and form filling. Mr Joyce needs to support tertiary education and training instead of overseeing universities shutting out students and polytechnics cutting courses and funding,” Grant Robertson said.

ENDS

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