A new body to oversee the development of tertiary education in New Zealand has been recommended in a report released today.
The establishment of a Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to provide policy and regulatory advice, allocate funding, monitor performance and facilitate greater co-operation and collaboration on research, is the main recommendationmade for the sector.
The Tertiary Education Advisory Commission, set up in April last year to devise a long-term strategy for tertiary education has also indicated it wants funding to be better targeted to ensure resources are channelled to best meet the country's needs.
Jim Doyle, executive director of the Association of Polytechnics in New Zealand said the proposal for a Tertiary Education Commission was almost identical to one it made 10 years ago.
"It could be a highly effective, interactive, enlightened, supportive body or it could be a stultifying bureaucracy," Mr Doyle said in a statement.
New Zealand University Students Association president Andrew Campbell said it was vital students were represented on the new body.
Ross Wilson, president of the Council of Trade Unions said TEC could be the driver for tertiary outcomes that were in the national interest.
