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Strategy submission emphasises secondary-tertiary interface

Greater emphasis is required on the secondary-tertiary interface, according to the NZVCC submission on the Government’s Draft Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-2015.  On the strategy priority of more young people gaining degrees, the Committee suggests that more attention should be given to the importance of improving the interface – “a key issue for universities”.  The submission says the draft strategy is silent on this issue “yet a particular block to young people advancing successfully from secondary to degree-level study is the lack of continuity between secondary school and university”.

As well as the “more young people gaining degrees” priority, the NZVCC submission comments on three other strategy priorities most relevant to universities – assisting Māori and Pasifika to achieve at higher levels, strengthening research outcomes, and improving the educational and financial performance of providers.

“The NZVCC welcomes the emphasis the draft strategy places on the advancement of Māori and Pasifika students,” the submission says.  “Universities are committed to increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika graduates and all universities have strategies in place to strengthen the engagement of Māori and Pacific communities with university education.”  However, for this priority, an effective secondary-tertiary interface was also an issue. “Increasing the number of Māori school leavers entering university will be difficult as long as Māori are failing to complete secondary school or leaving school without the necessary qualifications for entry into university.”  The NZVCC submission notes that in 2008, 43% of all school leavers attained at least university entrance or a level 3 qualification while only 20% of Māori school leavers did so.

On the research priority, the NZVCC cautions against too great an emphasis on what the strategy refers to as “research of direct relevance to the needs of industry”.  While universities were at the forefront of commercialising research results, that was not at the expense of the broader aspects of research, fundamental research being an important part of innovation.  It was important to retain the most able of students for postgraduate study.  Although the proportion of postgraduate students had grown from 14.5% of university equivalent full-time students in 2000 to more than 17% in 2007, it would be concerning if the constrained funding environment limited the growth of postgraduate student numbers.  The NZVCC submission queried the draft strategy’s reference to an investigation of whether the Performance-Based Research Fund was working well for all parts of the sector.  “The PBRF was not designed to be appropriate for non-research tertiary institutions … the focus should be on ensuring that a definition of what constitutes research that is internationally credible is applied consistently across all institutions.”

Addressing the draft strategy priority on improving the educational and financial performance of providers, the NZVCC submission supports the increased emphasis on degree completion but notes that it must be linked to improving the preparedness of students at entry to university, another reflection of the importance of the secondary-tertiary interface.  The proposed reduction in the number of sub-degree qualifications is strongly endorsed – “the overall quality of the tertiary education system would be enhanced if Government adopted a deliberate strategy of diverting funding from lower-level certificates to degree programmes”.  The NZVCC expected that Government would ensure, as part of its emphasis on quality, that non-university providers offering degrees were also required to meet international quality standards.

In general comments on the draft strategy, the submission says the NZVCC has serious concerns over the implication that the current funding limitations will continue for the duration of the new Tertiary Education Strategy – “for universities, this will be counter-productive to achieving the Government’s priorities, especially in light of New Zealand’s history of internationally low levels of investment in universities and inadequate indexation of funding”.

The NZVCC submission gives four examples of how a prolonged limitation on funding would impact on the achievement of Government tertiary education priorities. The priority for more young people gaining degrees was already compromised by the current enrolment cap.  Demand for undergraduate and postgraduate places had been boosted by the weak employment market.  Coupled with the pipeline effect of students already in the system, and no increase in per-student funding, this would mean student numbers would need to be restricted to maintain quality.  That in turn would impact on key groups like Māori and Pasifika – “restricting access to university could impinge heavily on efforts to improve their achievement levels”.  Without the ability to offer internationally competitive academic salaries and with strong competition from Australia, there were significant implications for recruitment and retention of academic staff in New Zealand universities.  In the long term this could affect the quality of university teaching and research.  The fourth example was the shortage of sustained funding for research programmes which acted as an impediment to universities achieving increased research and innovation.

On the Government’s desire for tertiary education organisations to look for other sources of funding, the NZVCC submission says the expansion of alternative funding sources would be assisted by a reconsideration of the current fees maxima policy.  That could provide greater freedom for institutional decision-making and an enhanced ability to differentiate fees among programmes according to the cost of delivery.  The submission also called for a halt to Government research funding policies that reduce universities’ access to contestable research funding.

Other items …

Benefits to the individual stressed

The personal benefits of university education are a theme in a number of the individual university submissions on the Draft Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-2015.  One notes that a section of the draft makes passing mention of the enrichment of life that education can provide, “but this is the merest lip service as the rest of the document deals with education as a way of increasing economic performance, with meeting the needs of learners as a secondary commitment”.  The contribution to economic performance would be enhanced by ensuring participation and achievement in tertiary education by as many people as possible.

A further university submission makes a similar point: “While we can appreciate why Government has chosen at this time to focus on the economic and labour market benefits that accrue from investing in tertiary education, we are of the view that as well as this, there should be a greater acknowledgement within the main body of the new strategy of the societal and personal well-being benefits that accrue from the raising of skills and knowledge of New Zealanders, and from undertaking research of national and international significance in these areas.”

Short-sighted is how another submission refers to the draft strategy.  The document was not significantly different from the earlier iteration in terms of its overall vision although it reflected a very different economic context.  The discussion about the short-term priorities placed less emphasis on increasing participation and more emphasis on achieving the best return on a necessarily limited investment – “that is, doing more with less”.  The university was disappointed in an approach that was based on reduced costs rather than increased investment.  “The strategy is less than visionary, and reads instead like a short-term management response to the current global economic crisis.”

One university submission emanates from a workshop session by its Council.  It notes a perception that the aspirational thrust of the strategy is needlessly blunted by its cross-sectoral generic emphasis.  “If differentiation is to be encouraged and embraced then there is a need for separate strategy documents for each of the sub-sectors that can provide cogent statements of intent and aspiration.”

Most university submissions echo the NZVCC’s position on the importance of the secondary-tertiary interface.  One notes that some students are embarking on university study with inadequate preparation and inappropriate prerequisites.  While the review of the National Qualifications Framework might help resolve the situation, it might not be sufficient to deal with issues around pathways from secondary to tertiary study.  The draft strategy’s emphasis on reducing pre-degree programmes also created an anomalous situation for bridging education.  A second submission says the draft strategy should address the significance of the secondary-tertiary interface to recognise that the strategy’s success will not only depend on the efforts of the tertiary sector but also on other parts of the education system. 

In the view of one university, many of the short-term priorities targeted in the draft strategy represented, in effect, failures at the secondary level.  “We acknowledge the importance of the secondary-tertiary interface in terms of supporting those people who need extra services.  However, the financial incentives for tertiary providers to resource and deliver these additional services are very limited.  The appropriate interventions must continue at the secondary level to minimise the extent to which bridging support is necessary at tertiary level.”  Another submission expresses concern with the section of the draft strategy dealing with targeting priority groups, that concern centring on the lack of acknowledgment of barriers to successful tertiary participation.  One of those barriers was the proportion of students who were failing to gain the necessary skills at school to proceed to tertiary study, and particularly to the degree-level study identified in the draft strategy as a particular priority.