On this page:

• Resources for developing your Plan
• Plan Guidance 2027
• Supplementary Plan Guidance
• Investment round timeline
• New provider investment round timeline
• Gazette notice for investment in 2027
• Templates
• Submitting your documents
• Additional funding information
• Additional resources
• Previous year resources

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Resources for developing your Plan

Our role at the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is to make high-quality investment decisions that support the tertiary education system to deliver quality learning, and equip learners, employers, industry and communities for economic and social success.

• We provide resources to help tertiary education providers develop their Investment Plans:
• When creating your Plan, you should read Plan Guidance, the Investment Plan Gazette notice, and Supplementary Plan Guidance alongside each other.
• We have provided a template for the Strategic Intent part of your Plan. The template provides a framework to help you meet the requirements set out in the Investment Plan Gazette notice and Plan Guidance. We strongly recommend that you use the template to structure your Plan. This will enable you to tell your organisation’s story in the most effective way and supports us to better assess your Plan.
• For information on TEC’s process for managing educational delivery and performance where it needs to improve, refer to the Response Framework for Educational Delivery and Performance.
• For support with your learner success approach, we encourage you to use our guidance and resources at Learner Success. These include:
  • the Learner Success Framework
  • information on Learner Success Plans and Disability Action Plans
  • the Kia Ōrite Toolkit, and
  • the Learner Success Plan template.

All these documents should inform your discussions with your Relationship Manager or our Customer Contact Team.

Please see Plan Guidance and Supplementary Plan Guidance for our investment information.

Plan Guidance 2027

Plan Guidance is an important document that provides information about what providers need to submit in their Investment Plan, how we will assess it, and our priorities for investment.

Plan Guidance for providers submitting Plans for funding from 1 January 2027 (PDF 11 MB)

Supplementary Plan Guidance

Supplementary Plan Guidance will be published in June 2026. It will provide further details following Budget 2026, and any extra information about what we will be looking for in your Investment Plan that was not available when Plan Guidance was published in March.

Investment round timeline

Activity	Timing
TEC publishes notice in the New Zealand Gazette setting out requirements for Plan content, timetable, assessment and Plan summaries	16 March 2026
TEC releases Plan Guidance and Strategic Intent template; Plan engagement begins	16 March 2026
Government announces Budget 2026	28 May 2026
TEC provides indicative allocations	From 2 June 2026
TEC releases Mix(es) of Provision and Educational Performance Indicator Commitments templates	From 8 June 2026
TEC releases Supplementary Plan Guidance to reflect any policy or Budget changes	June 2026
Providers submit proposed Plans	By 3 July 2026
TEC reviews proposed Plans (including further discussion with providers as needed)	July–October 2026
Providers are notified of decisions in writing	From November 2026
First payments made against Plans; Plan delivery begins	January 2027

You must meet the Plan submission deadline. If we do not receive all required components of your Plan on time, this may delay your funding or make you ineligible for funding.

New provider investment round timeline

Activity	Timing
New providers can contact TEC to request template for initial Plan application	From March 2026
New providers submit initial Plan application	By 1 May 2026
TEC reviews new providers' initial Plan applications	April–May 2026
TEC makes decision to invite new providers to submit a full Plan, or to decline to fund	By 26 June 2026
New providers submit full Plan (including any revisions to initial Plan application)	By 24 July 2026
TEC reviews proposed Plans (including further discussion with providers as needed)	July–October 2026
Providers are notified of decisions in writing	From November 2026
First payments made against Plans; Plan delivery begins	January 2027

You must meet the submission deadlines. If we do not receive all required components of your initial Plan application and full Plan on time, this may delay your funding or make you ineligible for funding.

Gazette notice for investment in 2027

The Gazette notice is a legal instrument where the TEC sets criteria for the content of Investment Plans, Plan summaries, the submission process, the timetable, and how Plans will be assessed. These are published in the New Zealand Gazette and on our website.

Investment Plan Gazette notice for investment in 2027

Investment Plan Gazette notice for investment in 2027 – Gazette.govt.nz

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Templates

Many of the templates you require for drafting and submitting your Plan (for example Mix of Provision [MoP] templates) are available in DXP Ngā Kete.

Please see below for other relevant templates.

Strategic Intent template

Template for Strategic Intent section of Investment Plans for Investment in 2027 (DOCX 306 KB)

Providers should use this template to structure the Strategic Intent component of their Investment Plan (Plan). It sets out the requirements for proposed Plans and ensures we have all the information we require to robustly and consistently assess your Plan and make informed investment decisions.

Who needs it: All providers submitting a full Investment Plan must submit a Strategic Intent.

Submission deadline: By 3 July 2026

Research Activities template

Template for Research Activities for investment in 2027 (DOCX 218 KB)

As part of introducing the Tertiary Research Excellence Fund (TREF), all providers currently receiving Performance-Based Research Fund funding need to provide information about their research activities either through their Strategic Intent or through this template.

Who needs it: Use this template if you are currently receiving funding from the Performance-Based Research Fund and you are not required to submit a Strategic Intent for 2027.

Submission deadline: By 3 July 2026

Mix(es) of Provision (MoP) changes template

Template for Mix(es) of Provision changes for investment in 2027 (XLSX 29 KB)

If you want to grow provision that aligns to our priorities, you will need to reprioritise funding within your existing allocation. You will also need to provide us with information about any significant proposed changes to your provision either through your Strategic Intent or through this template.

Who needs it: Use this template if you are proposing significant changes to your provision but you are not required to submit a Strategic Intent for 2027.

Submission deadline: By 3 July 2026

Corrections Delivery template

Template for 2027 Corrections provision (XLSX 30 KB)

Your MoP should include the following specific details about any provision for learners in the Department of Corrections’ (Corrections’) care:

• the programme
• number of equivalent full-time students (EFTS)
• region of delivery, and
• the mode of delivery (face-to-face or extramural).

Who needs it: You will be required to complete this template if this information about your Corrections’ provision is not already itemised in your MoP. When submitting this template, you must still include Corrections’ provision in your MoP.

Submission deadline: By 3 July 2026

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Submitting your documents

All your Plan documents, including your Strategic Intent, MoPs and Educational Performance Indicator Commitments (EPICs), must be submitted through DXP Ngā Kete.

Please do not submit these documents by email, as this can result in delays.

Additional funding information

Information on 2026 in-year additional funding will be available later in March.

Additional resources to support investment plans

Introduction to the TEC’s investment process

This page describes TEC’s investment process, as well as who’s responsible for each part of the process and what the different stakeholders in the system do. It is designed to support TEOs and other stakeholders to understand how the investment process works.

Investment Framework for Learner (Delivery) Funds

The Investment Framework for Learner (Delivery) Funds describes the current way we make investment decisions, what goes into our decision-making, and examples of how this works in practice.

Response Framework for Education Delivery and Performance

This framework explains how we manage performance where it needs to improve. It describes the information we consider in making a response decision, what other factors affect these decisions, and what options and levers we use. It provides greater transparency about what to expect if your performance needs to improve.

Learner Success Framework

This framework provides a blueprint for developing and implementing learner-centric operating models. It provides you with tools to understand your learners and address why and how your organisational model supports (or does not support) learner success.

Kia Ōrite Toolkit – achieving equity for disabled learners

The Kia Ōrite Toolkit provides current, New Zealand-specific guidance to help tertiary education organisations better support disabled learners.

Previous year resources