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This study examined the historical association between the level of tuition fees at the bachelors level and the relative quality of research as assessed in the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) Quality Evaluation. The analysis showed that: there was a positive association between the relative domestic tuition fees of a bachelors-level course and the relative quality of research at that university, but it was very weak. Therefore, if students inferred quality from the relative price of a course they may have incorrectly assumed higher price means higher quality; the weak association was likely a result of different price strategies at the universities during the 1990s, with some universities setting fees with the objective of maintaining affordability for students; [and] if price is a poor indicator of institutional quality, the public availability of a wider set of performance measures may help the decision-making-process of students.

Published summary from the Education Counts website. Show less

The study considered a population of first-year bachelors-degree students at university, who had all achieved the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 3 and attained the University Entrance standard. While academic achievement at school was the strongest predictor of first-year university performance for these students, not all higher-achieving school students performed equally well at university, and some who had lower school achievement out-performed students with higher school achievement. Among higher-achieving school students, those who: studied part-time or for only part of the year, or were from the sole-Pasifika ethnic group, or were low-decile school students from ethnic groups other than sole-European showed lower levels of university performance than other higher-achieving school students. Among those with lower school achievement, students who took a year off before starting their tertiary studies - particularly students from low-decile schools - showed higher levels of performance at university than those who progressed directly to tertiary study after leaving school. But this better performance among those who took a gap year was not seen in European, or sole-Pasifika students. Lower-achieving students from low-decile schools performed better in their first-year of tertiary studies than similar students from high-decile schools. This suggests that among lower achieving students, NCEA underestimates the ability of those from lower decile schools. And conversely, NCEA overestimates the ability of those from higher decile schools.

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This handbook outlines what an institution must do to ensure procedures are consistent with audit and accountability requirements of the Education Amendment and Public Finances Act. It sets out minimum acceptable control requirements. It focuses on four fundamental elements - enrolment in EFTS credit generating, in non-EFTS generating and in self funding activities, assignment of programmes and courses to appropriate cost categories, derivation of course factors and confirmation of enrolments. Show less

This occasional paper examines the performance of New Zealand universities in the 2010 Shanghai Jiao Tong University Annual Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In particular, the analysis examines the data behind the overall rankings to get a more comprehensive picture of the level of performance of New Zealand universities.

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Competent Children, Competent Learners is a longitudinal study which began in 1993 and follows the progress of a sample of around 500 New Zealand young people from early childhood education through schooling and beyond. This report focuses on what students at age 16 thought about leaving school, what their biggest concerns and most anticipated opportunities were, what they saw as the most likely barriers to having the kind of life they wanted, how they envisaged spending their first year out of school, what their occupational aspirations, connections, influences, and motivations were and what the idea of 'career' meant to them.

Published summary from Education Counts website. Show less

This occasional paper examines the performance of New Zealand universities in the 2010 Shanghai Jiao Tong University Annual Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). In particular, the analysis examines the data behind the overall rankings to get a more comprehensive picture of the level of performance of New Zealand universities.

Published summary from the Education Counts website. Show less

The Student Loan Scheme Annual Report has been tabled in Parliament each year since 2001 and provides public accountability information to government and New Zealanders to show that the scheme is achieving its primary objective - ensuring that tertiary education is financially attainable to all New Zealanders. Each report provides information on the loan scheme and its performance, as well as statistics on those borrowing under the scheme and their repayment behaviour. In addition, each report contains financial schedules for the most recent fiscal year.

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This consultation document seeks views on a proposal to make changes to the policy settings for industry training following a review that commenced in 2011. It is intended that the changes will create an environment that will better support trainee achievement and progression through vocational education and training (VET), by ensuring that employers and trainees are well served by industry training organisations (ITOs) with appropriate incentives. The proposal was considered within the context of the wider VET settings, and needs to be considered alongside ongoing operational policy changes and planned amendments. The key proposed changes to industry training policy that the Ministry of Education are seeking feedback on are as follows: (1) ITOs will focus on two key functions: arranging and delivering on-job training, and skill setting for industry; (2) greater simplicity, accountability and clarity of the ITO functions and role; (3) higher expectations for qualification completions and program completions for ITOs; (4) industry will have responsibility for communicating skill needs directly to government to create closer links between education, employment and industry; (5) amalgamating all apprenticeships into the Modern Apprenticeships scheme, making the same level of support available for all apprentices, regardless of age; (6) raising the current 10 per cent restriction on industry training at higher levels (i.e. 5 and 6); (7) either the Modern Apprenticeship coordination fee should be incorporated into the Modern Apprenticeship training rate, or kept as a separate rate; (8) adjust to a more sustainable funding regime that increases the subsidy rate for traineeships (programs of 40 credits or greater) and introduces a new, higher subsidy rate for apprenticeships (currently Modern Apprenticeships are 100 credits or greater). A higher rate per trainee is being considered as part of the expectations for improved performance; (9) remove disincentives for allowing trainees to progress into employment and an apprenticeship from a provider, and transfer into a provider to complete a qualification if their employment situation changes; (10) review quality assurance mechanisms to include management of the processes for assuring consistency of graduate outcomes as a role of the qualification developer; and (11) review quality assurance systems for unit standards, with the view that over time, new versions will be flexible enough to be able to be delivered in a range of different delivery settings. The proposal focuses on changes to the policy for industry training and it is anticipated legislative changes to the Industry Training Act 1992 and integrating aspects of the Modern Apprenticeship Training Act 2000, will be needed to implement changes from 2014. Any changes will be implemented progressively over 2013 and 2014. A working party of sector and industry representatives as well as government officials, will work through the implementation issues once final policy decisions have been made.

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This handbook outlines the Equivalent full-time student (EFTS) system for the bulk funding of tertiary institutions. It defines the EFTS formula to be used by all tertiary institutions. A definition of the procedures to be used to calculate EFTS returns is given. A detailed list of the course/programme classifications that are used for funding purposes is provided. Show less

This report is part of an annual series on New Zealand's tertiary education sector. It begins with an overview of the tertiary education sector and student support trends. Chapter two covers the financial performance of the public tertiary education institutions and chapter three provides information on the human resources in the system. Chapter four describes the funding of tertiary education. Chapter five covers data provided by the Tertiary Education Commission on the performance of providers by sub-sector. The report concludes with the trends in student allowances and student loan expenditure, average annual allowances and borrowing, and the characteristics of student allowance recipients and student loan borrowers.

The main findings are that: (1) the combined financial performance of tertiary education institutions was above the low-risk performance bands in 2015, based on the four key financial performance measures set by the Tertiary Education Commission; (2) the number of academic staff increased from 2014 to 2015, while the number of non-academic staff decreased; (3) the downward trend in the number of student allowances recipients and student loan borrowers continued from 2014 to 2015, while student loan repayments increased strongly reducing the net cash cost of the loan scheme (lending less repayments) down to $303 million; and (4) total government spending on tertiary education for the year ended June 2016 decreased on the previous year mainly as a result of lower expenditure on student loans and allowances.

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