Joyce Steven: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Joyce Steven: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
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Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education) 
: 
 I would like to have the opportunity to take this call to follow on from my colleague Jo Goodhew who spoke very well and to talk a little about some of the other initiatives that the Government is taking to improve the skills in the economy and improve the outcomes of tertiary education. A lot of them involved moving from an inputs focus if you like or a “how much money can we spend” focus to a “what can we get for the money that we spend and what sorts of results can we achieve” focus. We have increased the numbers of places as Jo mentioned. We now have for example at universities and polytechnics 11600 more full-time funded places than in 2008 which I think is a pretty impressive result. 
We can look around the rest of the world to see some of the challenges that the higher education sector is facing. I met the vice-chancellor of Oxford University last week and he updated me on what is going on in the UK. It is certainly a very different situation from the one in this country as we have sought to maintain and indeed grow our investment in the number of places in institutions. This year in the Budget we have funded up to 750 additional places in high performing private training establishments as well and that is the first significant increase in the number of funded places in that part of the tertiary sector for some time. But we are also making requirements in terms of performance-linked funding to make sure that it is not just about enrolments but also about achieving results. We are also getting the publication of performance information across the tertiary sector to encourage that focus as well. I record for this Committee’s information that the tertiary sector is responding very very well to the incentives that we are setting. 
There was quite a bit of discussion at the Education and Science Committee about the area of industry training. I think it is very important because we are doing a lot of work there at the moment. We had an issue of very significant numbers of trainees being listed as being involved in industry training but not achieving any credits. In fact something like 53 percent of trainees who were enrolled to train in 2008 did not achieve any credits in that year and there was a very similar percentage in 2009. In fact 44000 people were enrolled in both years. Money was paid in terms of a subsidy in both years for their training but they achieved no credits at all. So in the industry training space we have also moved to a model in which we are looking to see better outcomes and actually get credits awarded appropriately to trainees who are operating in that space. Again I have to say the industry training sector has responded well. This year despite the fact that quite naturally we would see a decline in the number of trainees in training we have actually had an increase in the number of credits earned and an increase in the number of qualifications earned. Ultimately that is the important thing: how many people are being upskilled in industry training. 
Right across the vocational sector a number of changes will have a very positive impact and I would like to refer briefly to them for the Committee’s information. The first one is the whole tidying-up and simplifying of the qualifications system particularly in the vocational educational training area. From the 4500-odd qualifications that we currently have listed at levels 1 to 6 we will be down by about a third of that at the end of this year. That process is ongoing. We are working hard with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to achieve a further reduction because it will have the effect of simplifying the whole vocational pathway system. 
On top of that we are putting a lot of effort into getting more and better literacy and numeracy in levels 1 and 2 particularly. I think that is hugely important. If we are to have second-chance learning at levels 1 and 2—and that is very important—I think making sure that we have literacy and numeracy embedded in it is crucial. We know we have a challenge with some older New Zealanders who do not have the required literacy and numeracy skills to be successful in the modern world. With the approach that we have taken we have seen in a couple of years a quadrupling in the number of embedded literacy and numeracy courses available. Again I take my hat off to that sector for responding very well to the challenges that the Government has placed in front of it. There is some very good early success but it is only early success; there is a lot more to do in this space and we are very determined to do it. 
The other thing I just mention in passing is international education. We are doing a major reorganisation in this area and will have legislation back before the House shortly. This is important too for New Zealand’s educational future—to take advantage of the great skills we have in our education sector. Thank you. 
Vote agreed to.