Budget 2015

Budget 2015

Last updated 1 November 2016
Last updated 1 November 2016

A stronger economy with more people in paid work, and a declining 18-25 age group, meant that demand for tertiary education was softening in 2015.

Budget 2015 responded to this reduced demand by investing in tertiary education initiatives that would:

  • maintain the Government’s investment in tertiary education
  • improve the economic contribution of the tertiary education system
  • take steps toward delivering on the Government’s manifesto commitments.

Budget 2015 encouraged providers to deliver more of the skills New Zealand was in need of by directing funding towards:

  • targeted increases in tuition subsidies, at degree level and above, for science, agriculture and horticulture, optometry, pharmacy and physiotherapy
  • activities to increase the number of engineering graduates, including more engineering places
  • additional places in .

Budget 2015 also supported improved communication between industry and providers, and promised to provide students with better information through the development of Rate my Qualification.

The Government signalled its plan to identify changes it could make to the funding system to:

  • make funding more responsive to changes in demand, and to 
  • allow providers that were innovative and achieved good results for learners, to increase their funding.

For more detailed information on the 2015 Budget, read the following:

Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment’s media release

Ministry of Education