8 September 2010
“Today’s release of tertiary education performance information will allow the general public to understand more about how their local tertiary providers are performing,” said Dr Roy Sharp, Chief Executive of the Tertiary Education Commission.
“The information we are making public is an overview of how Universities, Polytechnics, Wānanga, Private Training Establishments and Other Tertiary Education Providers are performing against four indicators of educational performance.”
The indicators are:
- successful course completion
- completion of qualifications
- student progression to higher level study
- students retained in study.
“For the first time we are releasing information that can be used to make year on year comparisons of tertiary providers’ performance.
“At the same time, this information will add to existing resources that are available to students and their families to learn about tertiary education.”
Dr Sharp thanked the tertiary providers who spent time preparing their information for release:
“Providers have put in a lot of effort to prepare their information and to make it accurate. I would like to thank them for their work in this process.
“It is important to note that this information is just one of many sources of information available to students as they make decisions about where to undertake their tertiary study. Students are encouraged to look at provider websites for more information.
“Tertiary education providers already publish a lot of information for prospective students. Career Services also has a wealth of information to assist students and their families with tertiary education decisions.
“This release of information should help both students and employers make informed decisions.”
ENDS
Notes about the information for reporters:
- The published information is only about places funded through the Student Achievement Component Fund. It does not contain data for international students, or students who are funded through other methods and funds.
- The TEC allocated approximately $1.56b in 2009 through the Student Achievement Component Fund.
- Research performance is currently reported through the Performance Based Research Fund.
- Similar information on Industry Training will be released in the near future.
For more information please contact the TEC media team on:
027 285 3371 or media@tec.govt.nz
Background questions and answers
Why are you publishing this information?
Providing this level of information to the general public on how well tertiary providers are helping their students to achieve is a first for the TEC.
We are doing this as part of a proactive programme of work to make information publicly available to support students' choices and inform whānau about tertiary education options.
Particular attention has been given to how well the sector is delivering student achievement outputs for the priority groups identified in the Government's Tertiary Education Strategy - under 25 year olds, Māori and Pacific peoples.
The ongoing publication of performance information is also about improving public accountability for the investment in tertiary education and encouraging improvements in providers’ educational performance.
How frequently will information be published?
Initial plans are to publish educational performance information annually.
Will information be published at course or qualification level?
No. We have published information at a summary level for each tertiary provider. If you wish to know how a particular tertiary provider is doing in more detail, you will need to contact them directly.
Why is there no data for ITOs?
The information we have made available is only about the Student Achievement Fund. This is the Government’s largest fund (approx $1.5b allocated each year).
We are working with ITOs to make similar information about the industry training fund (approx. $200m allocated each year) available in the near future.
How can I find information about what providers there are in my region?
NZQA has a full list of all registered providers. This information also allows you to see what courses and qualifications each tertiary provider is able to offer. Not all of these providers will receive funding for student places from the TEC.
What about international students? Where can they get good information?
The information we have released is only about funded places.
Information for international students is available from both the Ministry of Education and Education New Zealand websites.
What are you expecting those providers at the bottom to do?
The information we have published is only a snapshot of performance.
The TEC Investment Managers have been discussing overall performance with tertiary providers over recent weeks and are working with providers to finalise their Plans over the next few weeks.
In many cases, there are valid reasons for the performance information looking the way it does. However where a tertiary provider is well below the median for their performance, the TEC will be talking with them about how they intend to improve their performance over time.
In extreme cases, the TEC will of course look at limiting funding to certain tertiary providers if there is no clear plan of improvement.