Tertiary students to be surveyed on quality

Tertiary education students will be surveyed about the quality of programmes they are studying, and the cashflow of low-performing institutions will be hit in a new government measure to monitor and maintain tertiary institution performance.

The first survey will take place in 2006 after being trialled next year. The Tertiary Education Commission will also collect information on course retention rates and successful course completion at each funded provider.

Each year the weakest-performing two public institutions and 13 private providers will be required to develop remedial action plans.

If their results don't improve the following year, a portion of their tuition funding will be placed at risk - three percent in the first year, rising to a maximum of five percent.

Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said the Performance Measure would reinforce a focus on the needs of the learner and balance the emphasis that the performance-based research fund had placed on research.

Education Forum policy advisor Norman LaRocque said it was good to see a move that would strengthen the student voice as a key driver of the tertiary system.

"Markets work better when people have good information to base their decisions on," Mr LaRocque said.

Aotearoa Tertiary Student Association president Julie Pettett said the mechanism was welcome as it would place greater emphasis on the learning results of tertiary institutions as opposed to the previous emphasis on enrolments.

The New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee said the measure appeared to be similar to course surveys already run by some universities.

Association of University Staff president, Bill Rosenberg, in the AUS weekly newsletter last week, said that the proposal for action against institutions based on ranking failed to take into account overall performance.

"Does this mean that even if all public institutions are performing brilliantly, the 'weakest two' will still be singled out for treatment that could put their funding or reputation at risk? Or, if all private institutions were not performing, should attention be paid to only thirteen of them? It is hard to see the logic."

More information on the Performance Measure.

The AUSTertiary Update.