Quality Commission is up and running for new academic year

Nearly 16,000 private tertiary students now have access to a free disputes service through the Quality Commission, which kicked off last month.

Currently 80 private providers around the country have joined the Quality Commission scheme. Students who are enrolled with participating providers get free access to an independent Quality Commissioner who deals with disputes that have not been resolved internally by providers.

The Commissioner has the power to order full reimbursement of fees, expenses and compensation up to $2000. Participating providers undertake to abide by the Commissioner's recommendation.

New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers president Sandra McKersey (pictured) said the Quality Commission was a sign that mature private education providers were taking responsibility for the quality of the services they provided. Consumers' Institute chief executive David Russell, who is on the governing board of the commission, said that in other industries, schemes like the Quality Commission had seen complaints drop by about 50 percent.

"We welcome arrangements like this. The Quality Commission scheme takes the overarching provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act and makes them specific to the quite complex situations that can arise in education," Mr Russell said.

The Quality Commission website says the vast majority of tertiary students are young or lacking in confidence and the commission is designed to be simple and non-threatening. The service removes some of the worries and risks and so it should serve as an encouragement to more people to take the plunge and get into tertiary education.

A Subtext story on the setting up of the Quality Commission is at this web page.