Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Tertiary funding body rejects call to scrutinise wananga differently

Updated at 7:52 pm on 16 November 2011

The Tertiary Education Commission has rejected a call to measure the performance of wananga in a different way from mainstream universities.

The Maori Students' Association has asked for tikanga values to be taken into account when scrutinising the three Maori institutions.

Its push follows figures showing only 43% of undergraduates finish their courses at Te Wananga o Raukawa, where the philosophy is to accept all applicants who are willing to learn.

The Tertiary Education Commission's general manager, tertiary investment Grant Klinkum says there's value in using the same measurement across the system.

He says the Government is funding a formal qualifications approach to tertiary education, and the commission believes that better employment and earnings are achieved when people gain formal qualifications.

Dr Klinkum says course completion rates are a good proxy for eventual qualification completion rates.

He says all sub-sectors of tertiary education are measured in the same way - by course and qualification completion, and student progression and retention.

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