Ni Bula Vinaka,
E vakarautaka tiko na matanitu e na gauna oqo e dua na i dusidusi vou ni vuli torocake (Tertiary Education), ka kerei mai kina na noda nanuma na lewenivanua. E na sogo tale tiko na noda vakasama na lewenivanua e na Vakaraubuka oqo. E nanumi ni sa ka bibi me da vakaraitaka na noda nanuma, ka sa mani vakau toka yani oqori e dua na kena i lavelave me baleta na i vavakoso e Mt Roskill, Okaladi ka rawa ni koni la’ki veisautaka se vakuria me vakacurumi kina na veika koni gadreva. Au sa na waraka na nomuni nanuma me yacova na yakavi ni mataka.
E sa na rawa talega ni koni vakauta vakadodonu ki na Tabacakacaka ni Vuli e na email: strategy@minedu.govt.nz.
Loloma bibi
Sireli Kini
Auckland
Tertiary Education Strategy
2010 – 2015
Background
The New Zealand Government through the Ministry of Education has released a draft Tertiary Education Strategy and invited members of the community for their responses to the following questions. The response closes on Friday 6thNovember 2009. Members of the Fiji Methodist Church in Auckland are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this important exercise.
- Will the proposed approach to targeting, improving system performance, and supporting high quality research, help realise the Government’s 3-5 year priorities?
- Do the Government’s expectations of providers and industry training organisations accurately and fully reflected contribution these sub-sectors and the sector as a whole, can make to realising this strategy?
- Will the early indicators of progress provide an accurate indication as to whether or not the system is making progress towards Government’s goals for tertiary education?
The Fiji Methodist Church in Auckland considers education in general and indeed tertiary education critical for the well being of its members. Through successful completion of tertiary education, people are able to enter into the job market at a higher level with higher economic returns. Empirical experience and evidences show the opposite for those that enter job market without tertiary qualifications.
The Fijian People
In 2006 the Fijian People in New Zealand is one of seven profiles on Pacific peoples based on the results from the 2006 Census. The subject population for this profile is the usually resident populations of Fijians at the time of the 2006 Census. Fijians are defined as those who specified Fijian as a response to the ethnicity question.
The 2006 Census showed that the Fijians were the fifth largest Pacific ethnic group in New Zealand, making up 9,864 or 4 percent of New Zealand’s Pacific population (265,974). The Fijian population increased by 40 percent (2,820) between 2001 and 2006. The median age of the Fijian population (half are younger and half are older than this age) was 24 years. By comparison, the median ages for the Pacific and total New Zealand populations were 21 years and 36 years, respectively. Fijians born in New Zealand account for 44 percent (4,251) of the total Fijian population. This was a 3 percentage point decrease since 2001.
Eighty two percent (82%) or 4995 of Fijian adults have a formal educational qualification (secondary school or post-school qualification). The comparable figures for the total Pacific and New Zealand populations were 65 percent and 75 percent, respectively. 59 percent (5,847) of the Fijian population live in the Auckland region, which is an increase of 1 percentage point since the 2001 census.
The Tertiary Education Commission plays a pivotal role in assisting to establish comprehensive education pathways that meet the learning needs of all New Zealanders, including all who identify as Pacific peoples. Pacific peoples are now an established and integral group within New Zealand’s population. Statistics New Zealand report of the 2001 Census showed that one in 16 people in New Zealand were of Pacific ethnicity at the time of the 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings (Statistics New Zealand). The Pacific peoples population will also continue to grow at a faster rate than the total New Zealand population. Even though this growth rate will slow in the next 20 years, medium term projections by Statistics New Zealand estimate that New Zealand’s Pacific population will reach 414,000 by 2021 – an increase of about 58 percent (Statistics New Zealand, 2003).
Given this trend, it is logical to take pre-emptive steps to in order to gain maximum benefit. The Pacific existence and contribution to New Zealand is important when addressed positively to avoid opportunity cost. An independent report by the New Zealand Institute for Economic Research projects revealed that if the education and training levels of the current generation of Pacific children can be accelerated to match current levels attained by non-Pacific children, then by 2021 New Zealand’s economy would benefit by $4-$5 billion.* (NZIER Pacific Peoples Economic Participation Report – Implications for the New Zealand Economy)
Tertiary Education Strategy issues:
The median age of the Fijian people in New Zealand is 24. While the TES targets young people under 25, it is important to consider the plight of teenage mothers in the Strategy.
The Strategy therefore must consider that New Zealand has one of highest teenage pregnancy rates in the developing world, with about 50 teenage girls in every 1000 falling pregnant. This pregnancy rate puts us behind the United States, but at a similar level to that of England and Wales. European countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Denmark are considerably lower.
While reasons for our national status are continually debated, there are definite trends within New Zealand which highlight ‘at risk’ teenagers. It is widely acknowledged that children who were born to teenage parents are more likely to become teenage parents themselves, and that teenagers in low socio-economic groups are also more at risk. Maori and Pacific Island teenagers have a higher fertility (completed pregnancy) rate than European, and their abortion rate is higher also. There are of course teenagers who fall pregnant outside of the ‘high risk’ groups, and questions about sex education and self-esteem come in to play.
Juggling study with parenting is difficult, no matter what the circumstance, but for teenagers who fall pregnant while still at school, even basic level education can be difficult to maintain. While the introduction of teen parent’s schools has helped address this issue, teenage parents still suffer disruption to their education during pregnancy and in the months following their child’s birth. In areas where there is no teen parent’s school available, education for teen parents is difficult, and while some continue their education through correspondence or other forms of distance learning, many simply drop out all together.
The targeting of young people (aged under 25) therefore should be pursued together with other approaches such as sex education, values and appreciating and accepting the role of the Church and spiritual in developing and sustaining the well being of people.
Tertiary education stakeholders such as the Government, students, and their families devote significant resources to tertiary education. Their expectations are sure that qualifications are of high quality and relevant for their requirements. It is noted that the Government alone invests $3.7 billion every year.
Given the enormous level of investment and expectations, it is imperative that the goals are achieved. Tertiary education providers should be made strictly accountable in every aspects of the journey from entry to successful completion. In the quest to increase participation, some small providers are using promotion and marketing techniques that are aimed at increasing higher entrance numbers with less emphasis on success and quality completion.
Some of those small institutions are enrolling students from Fiji for courses that cost $14,000 per year. Students were told to pay $7,000 upfront and the balance to be paid while they are studying in New Zealand and working for 20 hours per week. It is a great concern that some of those students who were lured to study in tertiary institutions under this system are struggling to study and pay for their living let alone paying for the balance of $7,000 let alone successfully completing their courses. A quick analysis of this arrangement reveals that it almost impossible to pay the balance of the cost let alone completing the course. We need to continue to support students to study full-time, as this is a big factor in completion rates. The system should also monitor what information tertiary institutions disseminate in their promotion and marketing campaigns.
The Government should put in place and implement stringent quality assurance measures to ensure that tertiary education providers are consistently accountable for the quality and outcome of educational services. The system should provide students and the tertiary education industry confidence in the quality assurance framework. The quality assurance should start from recruiting/enrolment right through to completion. On the other hand the public tertiary providers need to ensure they are financially viable so they can provide quality education on an ongoing basis. The evaluation findings and reports should be made public.
We therefore suggest:
- Stringent quality assurance system
- Government to recognise and accept the Church as a partner in Tertiary Education
- Government to be aware and deal with small providers that lures student to study and work.
This submission generally reflects the opinions of members of the Fiji Methodist Church in Auckland that worship in Mount Roskill. Draft copies of the submission have been sent to other members of the Fijian community in other churches and centres in New Zealand to include their views and to submit directly to the Tertiary Education Commission.
