Woodhouse MichaelEDUCATION (TERTIARY EDUCATION AND OTHER MATTERS) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Deputy Leader of the House) on behalf of the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment: I move That the Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Education and Science Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by a date that is 4 months and 1 week from the date the bill receives its first reading. I also intend to move that the select committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week where there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 191 and 194(1)(b) and (c).This bill will help the tertiary education system run more efficiently ensure quality and provide additional student protection. Tertiary education providers need to innovate and be able to respond quickly to the changing needs of students and the labour market. The changes the bill is proposing balance an increasingly flexible system with the appropriate accountability and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that providers can focus on delivering better outcomes for students. The changes in this bill will also ensure a more consistent playing field for tertiary education providers and will broaden student protection arrangements.Currently education legislation does not allow the Government the flexibility to make reasonable changes to increase or shift funding across the tertiary education system in response to changes in Government policy or student demand. The lack of flexibility has meant that the Government has been operating short 1-year to 2-year funding cycles meaning that providers are more focused on short-term planning and outcomes. This bill will enable changes to be made to a funding mechanism after that funding has been approved including to conditions on the funding. This flexibility will give the responsible Minister more confidence to approve tertiary education funding for up to 3 years it will reduce compliance for providers and it will give them more time and resources to focus on improving student outcomes.To ensure the changes do not compromise funding certainty for providers the legislation will require the Minister to make changes only when it is reasonably necessary following consultation with the sector and with an appropriate lead-in time. The Government has already implemented a number of changes to strengthen the monitoring of tertiary education organisations in response to a recent investigation. This bill builds on these changes by allowing better monitoring of the tertiary education institutions' use of Government funding. The bill requires providers to have information on their use of Government funding prepared and collated to be provided to the regulatory authority when the need arises. I want to assure the House that this is not increasing the reporting burden on providers but is a requirement for providers to hold information in an accessible format for use when required. It allows the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to impose conditions on a tertiary education organisation so that if required they can monitor activities not funded by the Government. It will allow the TEC to recover some of the cost incurred as part of investigating breaches of funding conditions only where breaches are found to have occurred. These changes will give the TEC more ability to identify investigate and address compliance issues.The bill also seeks to create a consistent playing field for tertiary education providers to encourage performance and innovation. Tertiary education providers that provide good outcomes for students should receive the same benefits regardless of whether they are publicly or privately owned. Currently public and private providers receive the same rate of funding for similar provision. However the Education Act 1989 allows a future Minister to fund private providers at a different rate from public providers for the same provision. The bill requires tertiary education providers to be funded at the same rate for the same provision regardless of their ownership. This change reflects current practice.The Education Act regulates the use of four terms that refer to tertiary institutions: university polytechnic institute of technology and college of education. Only institutions established as such under the Act can be described using these terms. Wānanga particularly Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi consider the current law unfair. Awanuiārangi wishes to use the term indigenous university" as an English language description after its official name as the term "wānanga" is not well understood internationally. I propose to allow wānanga to apply for ministerial consent to use a protected term in the same way a private training establishment can already under section 253C of the Act. This would not mean that a wānanga will become a university under the law; it simply means a wānanga could apply to use the term "university" so as to describe itself as an indigenous university.In the past year a number of issues have arisen that highlight gaps in the legislation relating to student protection arrangements so this bill aims to broaden student protection. Following the recent collapse of a private school in Auckland 14 international students were transferred to another private school which meant additional tuition and homestay fees which were paid for directly by the Ministry of Education. The export education levy is a contribution paid by all providers who take on international students both schools and tertiary providers to fund development and risk management initiatives for the export education sector. The bill will extend the levy's reimbursement provisions to cover private and partnership schools. This will allow international students to be reimbursed for their fees and continue to study in New Zealand should their provider fail.A recent High Court ruling found that schools cannot stand down suspend or expel international students for misconduct outside school even if their enrolment contract allows for it. This has consequences for international students' safety and well-being. The schools are unable to effectively manage risky or potentially harmful behaviour. The bill will enable schools to manage international student misconduct outside school so they can uphold their contractual duty to ensure international students' health safety and well-being.Following the recent closure of an international education provider there was evidence to suggest that learners had not been appropriately assessed. The current offence provisions do not hold that provider to account. The bill will make it an offence for a person to falsely award credits to a student studying towards a qualification. This will allow the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to pursue action against providers for falsely awarding credits.The bill also proposes a number of other changes that are minor or technical or seek to modernise other aspects of the Act. In conclusion this will increase funding flexibility and further strengthen monitoring and accountability of the sector create a consistent playing field for tertiary education providers to encourage performance and innovation and broaden student protection arrangements which supports all students studying in New Zealand to have a high-quality education experience. I commend the bill to the House."