Choudhary Ashraf: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Choudhary Ashraf: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:15023] 
9.  
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) 
: What is the Government doing to support major initiatives in the tertiary education sector? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister responsible for the Tertiary Education Commission) 
: 
 Yesterday at the University of Auckland the Prime Minister announced up to $10 million for the Starpath student mentoring scheme and $10 million for a $32 million Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology. These latest initiatives from the Tertiary Education Commission’s successful Partnerships for Excellence programme join a range of other strategic initiatives across the nation’s universities polytechnics and industry training organisations that the Tertiary Education Commission has funded over the past 12 months. Applications for the next Partnerships for Excellence round will be called shortly but I doubt whether the National Party can or should apply. 
Dr Ashraf Choudhary 
: Is this indicative of a general approach of targeting funding towards specific initiatives rather than just funding enrolments and is there broad support for this approach? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Yes. We have already targeted industry training funding and Modern Apprenticeships. We have targeted the Performance-based Research Fund. We have targeted research centres innovation and e-learning. We have focused on links with business and a range of other quite specific funds. We are now profiling all funders which will allow us to better target that funding for student tuition. This has received widespread backing throughout the community including the express support of the very talented Hon. Maurice Williamson who was unfortunately viciously attacked in the House for that support yesterday by Bill English. 
Simon Power 
: Why should taxpayers trust the funding initiatives of the Tertiary Education Commission when it approved funding of $15.3 million to run a computer course at Christchurch Polytechnic that only 3 percent of students completed; and why should we trust the Minister to sort out this mess when he has failed to make good on his promise that the Tertiary Education Commission would be accountable for retrieving the money that it paid for these dubious enrolments? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: If I can just explain to the member who I think was National’s education spokesperson that courses such as this are approved by the council of the institution. Luckily we have the Tertiary Education Commission which is now beginning to be able to get a hold of this kind of funding—and that is something that simply did not exist under the National Government. Thank goodness it does now. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: What is the Associate Minister doing to ensure inexpensive legal mechanisms for students who have been short-changed by tertiary institutions such as those at Southland Institute of Technology to gain refunds of costs for programmes that have been misrepresented or inadequately delivered? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Following consultation with the entire tertiary sector the Ombudsman was given the task of providing that kind of complaints mechanism for students. The member will know that in the case of the Southern Institute of Technology the Ombudsman reported that the $21000 that students paid in fees should be returned to them. I agree with that absolutely. I have met with the Ombudsman. He has given me advice on what steps he thinks should be taken and I certainly intend to consult the whole sector to ensure we have integrity around his decisions.