Improving academic preparation and raising student expectations are the keys to helping disadvantaged groups get tertiary education, an education expert studying New Zealand says.

Maureen McLaughlin, from Washington DC, was the 2002 Ian Axford Fellow in Public Policy and spent eight months in Wellington this year studying New Zealand’s education reforms from the 1980s to 2002.

Her research looked specifically at access to education and the shift in emphasis from the market-based reforms in the 1980s and 90s to today’s more centrally-steered and regulated approach.

She said the current focus on finances in the education sector — including fees, student support and debt — meant other factors important for access to education were receiving too little attention.

"International experience suggests that lowering fees alone will not close the opportunity gap. Student support is a necessary but not sufficient condition to improve access and opportunity.

"Research in New Zealand and elsewhere suggests that raising expectations and improving academic preparation for ethnic groups and low-decile schools must be narrowed before opportunity gaps will be closed," she said.

"Rigorous secondary school preparation has a positive effect and can substantially narrow the gaps in tertiary participation.”

Ms McLaughlin said soon-to-be published New Zealand data showed that mathematics followed by comprehension and literacy were most strongly associated with later social and academic competencies. This supported findings from the United States and Australia.

Information for New Zealand students tended to emphasise career options over tertiary information and was provided late in secondary schooling.

"Misperceptions about tertiary opportunities and the level of costs are likely to contribute to the opportunity gap."

In the past 20 years, New Zealand had moved from an elite system with low participation to a mass system with high participation.

In 1985, there were roughly 120,000 students and today there are 282,800.   Participation rates have also increased in the same period — from 20.5% to 34.8% for 18-24 year olds and from 2.7% to 5.9% for people older than 24.

This has come despite the costs increasing for students and their families.

"This shift in financing runs counter to what some believe — that greater access can best be achieved with free tertiary education," Ms McLaughlin said.

"New Zealand has very successfully increased participation in tertiary education since the mid-1980s. There is, however, still a persistent opportunity gap for groups most at risk."

Maori numbers at tertiary institutions, for example, have increased 60% since 1994, but they are significantly underrepresented at universities — 10% of Maori school leavers enrol in a university course compared to 25% of all school leavers.

Students from low and middle-decile schools were also less likely to enrol in tertiary education, figures show.

"Tertiary participation in New Zealand still needs attention, in particular the opportunity gap."

This was particularly important because the groups that currently had lower levels of educational attainment would represent a much larger share of the population in the future.

Ms McLaughlin said key strategies for improving access could include:

• making ‘improving opportunity’ a key part of tertiary strategy implementation;
• creating early intervention school and tertiary partnerships;
• providing more information about opportunities to students earlier, especially to families who had little exposure to tertiary education;
• improving student financing for low-income students, with targeted fee reductions or fee rebates for students most in need as part of the policy mix;
• paying institutions more for enrolling targeted student groups; and
• developing a strong research agenda.