Commissioner to oversee private tertiary student quality service

Nadja Tollemache, former Ombudsman and inaugural Banking Ombudsman, is the new public face of quality for private tertiary institutions following the launch of the Quality Commission yesterday. We look at the commission and what it will mean for students.

The New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers (NZAPEP) yesterday launched an independent Quality Commission to take responsibility for self-regulation and to resolve student grievances.

Nadja Tollemache is the inaugural commissioner and John Hinchcliffe, the former vice-chancellor of the Auckland University of Technology, the chairman of the five member commission that also includes consumer advocate David Russell, two NZAPEP members and a ministerial appointee.

The commission kicks off on 1 January next year and will work in a similar fashion to the banking and insurance ombudsmen: as a venue for grievances if talks with providers break-down.

NZAPEP has also developed a code of practice for participating providers and an NZQA-approved internal complaints procedure for providers and students to work through before approaching the commission.

NZAPEP has more than 360 members representing 48 percent of the sector. The quality scheme is voluntary; president Sandra McKersey said members were being encouraged to sign up from this month and she was optimistic of a high take-up.

Participating providers were bound to accept the finding of the commissioner and would be thrown out of the scheme if they did not.

Students would be eligible for, at maximum, a refund of all their fees plus an extra $2000 at the commissioner's discretion.

"We hope, of course, that the commissioner will have very little work but, when she does have a complaint, the commission will ensure it is focused on resolution from the student's point of view," Mrs McKersey said.

"We appreciate tertiary education is expensive and students have choice and we want to make sure they have the information to choose really credible providers with redress if needed.

"The commission shows we are prepared to stand up and say we guarantee what we do and what we say we do. We are confident it will be fair to all parties."

Mrs McKersey said NZAPEP would consider allowing other tertiary education provider organisations to join. She said government education agencies had been very supportive of the commission's development.

Quality Commissioner Nadja Tollemache, who helped set up the Banking Ombudsman's office in 1992, said the commission was part of a developing and successful trend to set up ombudsman-styled organisations in the private sector.

"It is a lot less expensive and more flexible than litigation and we will try to work to get resolution by agreement.

"The other advantage is that any changes required to the providers' code of conduct can be put in quickly and easily on the recommendation the commission to ensure ongoing and enhanced protection for students."

Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said the commission was a welcome move by the private training sector.

In a statement to NZAPEP, Mr Maharey said quality standards needed to be promoted if "you are to equip your students with the skills they need to succeed in our knowledge society".

"You are to be commended for the work you are doing to introduce a Quality Commissioner and I pledge the government's ongoing support for this project." Mr Maharey said the government would welcome other private training organisations working with NZAPEP on the proposal so that they could also offer greater protection to their students.

Education Forum policy advisor Norman LaRocque said he was pleased to see the private sector taking responsibility for quality assurance.

He said the private sector should play a significant role in maintaining quality of provision, and overseas this was not uncommon: for example, there were private accreditation schemes in the USA and Philippines, and Oman had private sector school review.

Corporate accreditation (such as for Microsoft) and international accreditation (such as for business schools) were other, well-known forms of quality assurance by private organisations.

The NZAPEP website.