$1.75 billion on uncompleted courses

February 28th, 2005 at 5:37 pm by David Farrar

Bill English understands the wananga scandal is not about mis-doing at one instiution but a total failure of Labour’s tertiary education strategy.

Labour set up the Tertiary Education Commission as the corner-stone of its strategy, and it has been a miserable failure. Since 2000 it has spent a massive $2.5 billion on low-level, sub-degree courses and $1.75 billion of this was on the 70% of sub-degree students who fail to complete their courses.

It is not far from the truth to say that there were no positive educational outcomes for that $1.75 billion. It was on courses created to gain funding, not courses which there was a useful *educational* need for.

As Bill English points out Gisborne

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15 Responses to “$1.75 billion on uncompleted courses”

  1. TomV Says:

    I have little time for TEC, having had the misfortune to de4al with them while working for someone funded by them but there were far from no positive outcomes. TEC is responsible for overseeing TOPs and Youth courses for the unemployed, which have been far more cost effective than WINZ over the years at getting people into employment.

    This job used to be done by Skill NZ, but was moved under the TEC umbrella.

    I can’t recall which government started them but they are bloody good value, with tight funding restraints and specific and effective criteria for continued funding.

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  2. Cathy Says:

    I have always advocated that students who fail papers/courses should have to repay the full cost of the paper/course at the end of the year ie. the full cost to the taxpayer.

    Courses are so easy nowadays that your IQ has to be lower than that of an intellectually handicapped snail to fail a paper or moreso an entire course.

    And I mean offence to those of you reading who have at some time wasted the time and effort of tertiary educators with your lack of care and attention to your studies.

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  3. Jordan Says:

    Lucky University is standards-based assessment, I guess, Cathy. Otherwise a quota would *have* to fail, even if they didn’t have the “IQ of a snail”…

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  4. Sean Says:

    I’m thinking we were doing better when the Railways and/or Ministry of Works provided jobs for people unable to work in the private sector. In past, at least they would have someone in the gang to direct you around the pile of rocks stabilising the shovels being leaned on by the other members. Nowadays, thanks to classroom indoctrination, they’re more likely to throw the rocks at anyone suspected of being a capitalist (ie. not in jail).

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  5. Le Clerc Says:

    Yes the Railways and MOW trained one hell of a lot of people. There are all those great stories of the skulldugery and theiveing that went on there too. Or were they really just great big work for the dole places that got a few good things done.

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  6. Antarctic Lemur Says:

    Gee Jordon, I wonder if the University’s lower the quality of their 1st- and 2nd-year papers to get more bums-on-seats funding. Standards are only standards when they are maintained.

    If Labour controlled the standard of the mass of a kilogram I imagine we would see it decrease with time so that your glorious party could claim various statistical successes, such as a decrease in obesity…..

    Then Labour could invent a Mass Investigation Commission to publish pointless comparisons between the weights of various materials, without actually investigating the decrease in the standard.

    Now what does that remind me of….

    AL

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  7. Adolf Fiinkensein Says:

    AL, do complete the con, they’d have to increase the mass of a kilo. It’s the same con they are currently perpetrating by changing the nature of benefits, by changing the way crime stats are reported. Happy days. You’ll know they have succeeded when we have more than the total NZ population enrolled at the Wananga. “Ding??” Hey, maybe between the Wananga and Gisborne they are already there?

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  8. Adolf Fiinkensein Says:

    AL, I forgot to add, if the Wananga nad Tairawhiti were really slick they would have a fine print clause on their enrolment forms and a “cross marketing agreement” with each other whereby they could exchange name and address lists and automatically enroll each other’s lists. Hey, that’s a good idea, twice as many “positive educational outcomes” for Trevor and twice as much money in the bank for the Wanaga.

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  9. Paul Says:

    Calling that outfit’s offerings “sub-degree courses” is being charitable. I don’t get much past Play-center-for-grown-ups.

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  10. Patrick Says:

    Hey Adolf,

    That is exactly what happened a couple of years ago in the Netherlands with a number of polytechnics…..

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  11. Patrick Says:

    Hey Mr. Finkenstein,

    That is exactly what happened a couple of years ago in the Netherlands with a number of polytechnics…..

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  12. Patrick Says:

    Hey Mr. Finkenstein,

    That is exactly what happened a couple of years ago in the Netherlands with a number of polytechnics…..

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  13. Patrick Says:

    Hey Mr. Finkenstein,

    That is exactly what happened a couple of years ago in the Netherlands with a number of polytechnics…..

    Students of one polytechnic were registered as student of an other, and vice versa, without their knowledge just to artificially pump up student numbers.

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  14. Patrick Says:

    Hey Mr. Finkenstein,

    That is exactly what happened a couple of years ago in the Netherlands with a number of polytechnics…..

    Students of one polytechnic were registered as student of an other, and vice versa, without their knowledge just to artificially pump up student numbers.

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  15. Patrick Says:

    Hey Mr. Finkenstein,

    That is exactly what happened a couple of years ago in the Netherlands with a number of polytechnics…..

    Students of one polytechnic were registered as student of an other, and vice versa, without their knowledge just to artificially pump up student numbers.

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