Street Maryan: Education (Tertiary Reforms) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Street Maryan: Education (Tertiary Reforms) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:644;Page:13673] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Associate Minister for Tertiary Education) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister for Tertiary Education 
: I move  
That the Education (Tertiary Reforms) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. This bill gives legal effect to the Government’s reform of the system for planning funding and monitoring tertiary education. The objectives of the reforms are to support the Government’s focus on quality relevance and value for money in the tertiary education system in order to ensure that the system contributes to the country’s social economic and environmental needs. 
The bill aims to streamline the system for funding tertiary education by providing a set of key planning instruments for steering the tertiary education system. The set of instruments includes first a single tertiary education strategy setting out the long-term strategy and current to medium term priorities for tertiary education which replaces the tertiary education strategy and the statement of tertiary education priorities; second investment guidance published by the Tertiary Education Commission which replaces charters and profiles; and third a 3-year plan prepared by tertiary education organisations in consultation with their stakeholders which is aligned with national and regional priorities and will form the basis of funding decisions made by the Tertiary Education Commission. The new process will lead to reduced compliance costs for tertiary education organisations. 
The Tertiary Education Commission will play a key role in ensuring the success of the reforms. The commission will work with tertiary education organisations to develop plans and ensure that the qualifications that are funded are relevant to students and stakeholders. Investing in a plan will ensure that the tertiary education system delivers the skilled graduates we need to secure a prosperous economic future for New Zealand. 
The tertiary education sector has acknowledged that change is needed. This came through in the consultation process and in submissions to the Education and Science Committee. It is clear that the system of demand-driven funding although contributing to increases in participation in tertiary education is not the most appropriate way of supporting tertiary education’s contribution to national goals. Taking a strategic approach to the funding of tertiary education by funding quality over quantity will support the Government’s objectives for a broad and inclusive tertiary education system while at the same time ensuring that the long-term needs of stakeholders are met. 
The new investment system will also safeguard taxpayers’ contribution to tertiary education. This is because instead of funding tertiary education organisations simply on the basis of enrolments the Government will be making wiser and more considered decisions on how taxpayers’ money is invested. The changes introduced by the bill will therefore lead to greater returns on the Government’s investment in tertiary education and will increase public confidence in the tertiary education system. 
The investment system emphasises collaboration rather than competition through a differentiated but complementary network of provision. This means that instead of competing for enrolments organisations will be collaborating and building on each other’s strengths as they work towards meeting national goals. They will also work in concert with industry to ensure that the needs to stakeholders are met. It is expected that taking a collaborative approach will contribute to greater outcomes from the Government’s investment in tertiary education. 
Through better more strategic longer term and collaborative planning involving organisations stakeholders and the Tertiary Education Commission this bill will be a boon to everyone involved in the tertiary education sector. The flow-on benefits of this new planning funding and monitoring regime will be widely felt. It will bring certainty to everyone with a stake in our tertiary education system—certainty to students about their course of study certainty to organisations about security of funding certainty for the public about the coherence and quality of our tertiary system and certainty for Government in its funding and monitoring roles. 
As we near the final stages of the passage of this bill I take this opportunity to again express my own and the Minister for Tertiary Education’s appreciation to the members of the Education and Science Committee for their role in this process. I look forward to the bill passing into law to enable the reforms to be introduced on 1 January 2008. I commend the bill to the House.