Coleman Jonathan: Education Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Coleman Jonathan: Education Amendment Bill (No 4) — In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 16 August 2011. Volume:675;Page:20921. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Immigration) 
 on behalf of the Minister for Tertiary Education: I move  
That the Education Amendment Bill (No 4) be now read a third time 
. I thank members for the work that they have done on the bill. Their amendments have enhanced a good bill. Improving skills is a key part of the Government’s agenda for lifting New Zealand’s economic growth. We spend over $4 billion per annum on tertiary education and this includes student support. That is about 1.6 percent of GDP which is high relative to the OECD average of 1.2 percent. Given our substantial investment we must continually look at ways to improve outcomes for students and ensure that taxpayers are getting value for money.  
The changes in this bill will result in a higher-performing system and will provide the foundations for a significant boost to our international education sector. First this bill provides for the regulation of compulsory student services fees at tertiary institutions. This will ensure that students get a say in how these fees are charged and what they are used for. There has been growing concern over the rapid rise in the amount of compulsory student services fees charged by individual tertiary education institutions in recent years. I am not convinced that there has been a commensurate rise in the quality of these services.  
The bill allows the Minister to issue directions on the categories of services that compulsory student services fees can be used for and how these fees are reported as well as ensuring that students are closely involved in the decision-making processes related to these compulsory fees. The changes in the bill will lead to a significant improvement in accountability and transparency for students and the Government.  
Secondly the bill enhances our international education sector. International education contributes more than $2 billion in total to our economy each year and supports 32000 jobs. The bill will facilitate the expansion of international education by establishing the new Crown agency Education New Zealand—a single agency solely focused on international education that will provide a sharper focus better coordination and better value for money in terms of both marketing and representation abroad. The new agency will begin operating from 1 September with almost double the budget of its predecessors.  
The changes in the bill represent an exciting opportunity for a real step change in the performance of our export education sector and for international education to make a greater contribution to the economic social and cultural well-being of New Zealand.  
Thirdly the bill will strengthen the regulation of the tertiary education system by improving and updating the legal arrangements of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. In particular the functions and powers of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority will be updated with a new rules regime replacing the existing powers of the authority. We have also updated and strengthened the regulatory management of private training establishments including expanding the range of enforcement measures available to the authority.  
Although most private training establishments are good performers the work of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to drive improvements in the lowest-performing establishments has been hampered by the outdated nature of the legislative provisions and the inconsistencies within them. This bill ensures that meaningful steps can be taken to address problems as they arise and students can have more confidence in the quality and strength of New Zealand’s private education system and its protection of students’ interests.  
It is vital that we keep working on enhancing the quality of the sector so that New Zealand remains an attractive place to study. This bill will strengthen our tertiary and international education sectors and improve accountability and transparency for students. I commend this bill to the House.