Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:606;Page:3426] 
4.  
HELEN DUNCAN (NZ Labour) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) 
: What is the Government doing to promote excellence relevance and access in the tertiary education system? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education)) 
: 
 Today we are formally launching the Tertiary Education Commission. This new Crown entity brings together the administration of all post-secondary education and training under one organisational roof. In its transition phase the commission has already been involved with such policies as the selection of seven centres of research excellence the design of the new performance-based research fund the expansion of industry training the introduction of the Modern Apprenticeships programme the introduction of the Gateway programme to schools and the allocation of regional development grants to polytechs throughout New Zealand. 
Helen Duncan 
: What specifically will the commission do to promote excellence relevance and access? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Excellence will be promoted through such policies as an expansion of centres of research excellence the introduction of a full performance-based research fund and the introduction of a performance component to tuition funding. In relation to relevance the commission will work with charters and profiles presented to it by all institutions throughout the country that want public funding. Those charters and profiles will have to show how institutions will advance the education and training of all New Zealanders and in particular areas like industry will be dealt with. In relation to access institutions will be asked to ensure that all learners have an open choice in relation to what education they do. For example the promotion of Maori and Pacific Island students right throughout the university system will be one of the goals. 
Simon Power 
: How do his reforms promote excellence relevance and access in the tertiary education sector when the net effect of his system of charters and profiles is that if Steve Maharey does not like it students do not get to study it? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can offer a seminar to the member on this issue when he has finished with the treaty one if he would like it. But in fact if I take the profiles for example they go to the Tertiary Education Commission not to me. I will not be making choices about what people do or do not study. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: How does the Government’s raising the fees for NCEA by almost 100 percent promote access to tertiary education particularly for students from average to low-income families when a recent report shows that the 2002 fee level already acts as a significant barrier to children or students getting on to the first rung of the ladder of learning and access to tertiary education? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The important part of a standards-based system as the member himself knows is to ensure that we have a quality system suitable for this century. It will cost more money to drive that system and one of the ways of recruiting that money of course is through fees.  
Gerrard Eckhoff 
: Why does the Government believe that a New Zealand Qualifications Authority - approved qualification in surfing from the Southern Institute of Technology—see Oreti Beach—where students who have demonstrated an aptitude and interest in surfing learn such practical and theoretical skills as surfing techniques and maintenance of surfing equipment actually assists and promotes excellence and relevance in tertiary education? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can tell that the member is not a surfer. One of the things that needs to be done when one is assessing whether a course will be relevant for students in this country is not to jump immediately to conclusions. One of the things that surfing qualifications may well do is introduce people not only to tourism industries which in this country of course are large but also to industries all around the world. So maybe the member might like to look at the course first of all.