Professor Grant Edwards
Vice-Chancellor, Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University
Chair of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee

New Zealand’s university sector is in the midst of a period of uncertainty.

Universities New Zealand Te Pōkai Tara is currently working steadily through multiple changes and plans, both those led by Government and our own work programmes. Many recent and upcoming decisions and proposals may change the way we work over the next decade or longer.

These include the recent Government decisions on the University Advisory Group and the draft Tertiary Education Strategy. 

It is always invigorating to be part of a system undergoing change, with the potential for positive improvements for our sector and those we impact through excellence in teaching and research. At the same time, change can be challenging as we endeavour to be a voice of reason and balance, to bring evidence to the conversation, and to represent our staff and students effectively, across many areas of overlapping work.  

The following are just two of the issues we are currently addressing.

Funding

Changes are being made to the science funding system through the Science System Advisory Group, and the final decisions are not yet announced. Changes to the Performance-Based Research Fund that provides more than 15% of research funding in universities are also being made. Although the core public funding of universities is not being addressed directly, there is no doubt that many of the changes proposed will have ongoing impacts for the sector.

Funding is an ongoing concern for universities, and also for our students. Public investment in higher education is vital to ensure we have a highly educated population able to contribute to both society and the economy. Investment in publicly funded research is also a core factor in our country remaining productive, innovative and thriving on the global stage.

There is a continual need to balance public/private good, but also to recognise that investment in education and research today rarely brings immediate impact so investors need to have a long-term view of potential value.

Our belief is that greater investment is needed in the tertiary education sector, and our work should concentrate on maximising the value of that monetary input and removing barriers to our success.

There are two other key factors to any successful funding system, such as the newly created Tertiary Research Excellence Fund (replacing PBRF). It must be accessible by researchers across the spectrum: from fundamental research that underpins all future applied research, to the humanities, business, arts and social sciences research. Economic value and innovation are not found solely in STEM subjects, and our country would be poorer without the thinking and understanding provided by the full gamut of research arenas.

And crucially, any new system must be apolitical. Just like government systems, the university sector does not change direction on a dime. Funding mechanisms must of course be able to be tweaked to address new policy priorities and new issues facing the country. But a new government should not have to redesign the entire system to achieve that. We are wary of that being lost in the enthusiasm and speed at which new systems are currently being created.

Quality Assurance

The New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee has, since the early 1960s, had the authority for quality assurance in New Zealand’s university system. Our responsibilities were reviewed in 1989 and have remained essentially unchanged since.

Last year the Academic Quality Agency which undertook academic audits on our behalf wound up its work and a Transitional Academic Audit Committee has taken its place while a new audit system is created.

This committee has reviewed the systems which we use to address the creation of new programmes of teaching, and the mechanisms for reviewing not only the outcomes of those programmes, but also other quality measures such as student success and the Code of Pastoral Care.

Quality assurance has been identified as one area the new University Strategy Group will consider as part of its work advising the Minister for Universities and we have recently updated the Minister on our change progress.

While New Zealand’s universities can be proud of our international rankings and the quality that reflects, we are keen to continue ensuring that we hold ourselves to high standards. Any new structure for reviewing ourselves and each other must meet international accreditation standards and reflect our desire and the public’s expectation that a New Zealand university qualification is valuable and useful. It must also retain and respect the vital autonomy of universities, which hold a unique place in the country’s education system.

But wait, there’s more…

Alongside the work above, we’re working closely with Science New Zealand, representing the three current Public Research Organisations, on defining our shared work programme to action our Statement of Collaboration. This is an exciting opportunity to formalise existing arrangements and elevate publicly funded research.
Universities are also being consulted on changes to:

• Changes to the secondary school curriculum and their effect on University Entrance
• The draft Tertiary Education Strategy
• Priorities for focus in New Zealand’s science system, and we are awaiting the final report of the Science System Advisory Group
• Enacting the Education and Training (Freedom of Expression) Amendment Bill
• The Copyright Act 1994
• Tertiary Education Commission success indicators to measure student achievement

While busy, collectively we are positive about the opportunities to build on New Zealand’s already world-class university sector.