6. Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister for Tertiary Education
What reports has she received on the need to upskill the workforce to assist in job placement?
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Tertiary Education) Link to this
I have received a number of reports that recognise that upskilling the workforce is important in order to ensure we are in a position to take advantage of the economic upturn. That is why this Government increased the spending on tertiary education in Budget 2009 from $2.66 billion to $2.78 billion.
Hon Maryan Street Link to this
What does the Minister say to Sandy Gibbs of Wellington, who said on 18 June that adult and community education was a last chance for her to gain qualifications and a profession, leading to the establishment of a graphic design business, and that “I feel very strongly that these classes provide people with the means not only to gain confidence, but to study and go on.”?
I would say to Sandy that this Government remains committed to adult and community education, and that is why we are spending $124 million over the next 4 years. That money will be spent on the priority areas of literacy, language, numeracy, and foundation skills.
Hon Maryan Street Link to this
When the Minister said yesterday at the Education and Science Committee that difficult economic times made her choose between funding adult and community education and getting a young person into a more vocational polytech course, did she factor her refusal to extend the caps on student numbers at polytechs into that equation; if she did, where does she expect the 6,000 to 8,000 students who are likely to be turned away from polytechs over the next year to go to for their upskilling opportunities?
As I said to the member yesterday at the select committee, she should not rely on projections that are based on April enrolments. They have proved to be unreliable in the past, sometimes quite spectacularly so. As I said to the member yesterday, this Government is watching the enrolments in tertiary institutions very carefully. I am reporting to Cabinet and the Prime Minister on a regular basis, and I am in constant touch with the technology institutes and polytechnics sector, in particular.
Colin KingThe Government has put an additional $11 million into the Workplace Literacy Fund over the next 2 years. This will mean that for the next 2 years we will fund 4,500 places through that fund. That compares with the previous Government, which in good times could fund only 3,000 places. Decisions like this show that we are committed to helping workers to gain the skills that they need in order to succeed and to produce the increases in productivity that the country needs.
Hon Maryan Street Link to this
Does the Minister stand by her statement to the select committee yesterday that the chief executive officers of polytechs are inflating the number of students they expect to have enrolling at their institutions in the next 6 to 12 months; if so, why does she think they are doing that?
I do not accept that member’s assertion. That is not what I said to the select committee. What I said was that the projections that the chief executive officers were making were unreliable, and that in the past they have proved to be so. The April enrolment figures cannot be taken as, and have been shown in past years not to be, a good indicator of the enrolments for the rest of the year.