Intueri shareholders celebrate corporate welfare

New Zealand's largest tertiary education company Intueri, which announced a $1.6 million profit yesterday, has received an increase in public funding over the last two years of at least $1.8 million.

"The government is subsidising private shareholders to make a profit off New Zealand students," said TEU president Lesley Francey.

Of Intueri's five private education enterprises, TEU was able to find government funding figures for three of them in Tertiary Education Commission data. Those three (the Design and Arts College of New Zealand, the Elite International School of Beauty and Spa Therapies Ltd, and the Cut Above Academy) received a combined increase of $1.8 million in public funding between 2012 and 2014. In 2012 the company received $6.8 million of public funding and in 2014 it received $8.6 million.

'While people investing on the sharemarket might be celebrating the government's largesse over the last two years, students in our regional polytechnics saw their funding over the same period fall by $17 million over the same period."

"The government is directly transferring money from students in public polytechnics to private investors on the stock exchange. It is corporate welfare at the expense of students," said Lesley Francey.

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