Launch of Tertiary Education Commission

Speech by CTU president, Ross Wilson at the TEC Launch, 13th February 2003.

I have great pleasure in joining the PM, the Minister, and Business NZ to welcome the launch of the Tertiary Education Commission.

The CTU supports the 6 key goals in the tertiary strategy and the ambitious aspirations for the Commission.

So, Andrew and your fellow Commissioners (including our own Andrew Little), we have high expectations of what you will deliver. It is a huge, and vitally important, challenge.

And can I make it clear that we do not intend to just be a token stakeholder based on political circumstances.

We see our role on behalf of the community as drawing on the innovation, aspirations, and experience of the 300,000 working people we represent, and their families and friends as well.

Unions have a long history of involvement in apprenticeships and industry training. CTU representatives have played an active part in ensuring that working people have a say in shaping their local university or polytechnic.

And we shall be working to see that the collective representation of employees on ITOs reflects the intentions of the new law.

We want to ensure that our representation role is undertaken competently and professionally and, to this end, we are developing improved training for our representatives.

Yesterday was the first day of a comprehensive training course for union officials, delegates and members on how we can improve our role within ITOs and tertiary education institutions and in promoting education and training opportunities. I am pleased to say that the course is oversubscribed and everyone is very enthusiastic.

That project has a reference group which includes Business New Zealand and the Industry Training Federation and NZQA along with the TEC.

The CTU also represents a large number of tertiary education workers who have a professional commitment to a high quality, accessible education.

Together, the CTU and individual tertiary education unions, are involved in a long list of working groups implementing the tertiary education reforms. These include those looking at fee maximia, Charters and Profiles; the Performance-based Research Fund, the Tertiary Governance review and the Collaborating for Efficiency projects.

The CTU has welcomed the modern apprenticeships, and additional funding for industry training.

And we are working closely with Business New Zealand and the Government on a project to encourage more employers and workers to get involved in formal industry training.

We make this commitment because we see it as vital to the future of our country to ensure that we work together, on a tripartite basis, to build the educational and skill base for a higher skill, higher value, and higher wage economy.

Today it is timely to reflect on a vision for tertiary education in this country. Fundamentally, what the CTU hopes for is that lifelong learning will be a reality for all.

This means that the tertiary education institutions, and the funding arrangements that support them, truly reflect the value we place on education as a public good.

It also means that, in the community and workplaces where people are based, there are opportunities for lifelong learning.

Increasingly such education is essential to develop the skills and confidence required to cope with the many changes, uncertainties and challenges of contemporary life.

As I have already said, education is not just a private good. It is vital that we build our country's capacity to educate our people. That is why the CTU has a commitment to the delivery of high quality, accessible public education. This is coupled with an expectation that the institutions will meet the needs of those currently under-represented in tertiary education - including Maori, Pacific peoples, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The CTU also notes the essential role played by adult and community education. Adult literacy, ESOL and numeracy skills and continuing education strengthen both individuals and communities.

They give people greater options including the ability to return to the paid workforce, to undertake further study, and to manage retirement.

In doing so, they also help build a better balance between paid work and the rest of our lives - a concept at the very heart of the CTU's Get a Life campaign.

We all know that workers' employability increasingly relies on investment in skill. Well resourced institutions and staff with excellent conditions of work are vital, and workplaces need to be a focus for learning,

It falls to TEC to work with organisations such as ours to ensure these ambitions are realised.

ENDS