Speech to the Ako Aotearoa Academy of Tertiary Excellence Symposium

 Professor Bryan Gould, chairman of Ako Aotearoa; Associate Professor Donna Buckingham, President; Dr Peter Coolbear, Director - thank you for your welcome.

The theme of this symposium is "Turning Vision into Promising Practice". That theme is also a fair summary of this Government's objectives for New Zealand. We have a vision of a prosperous economy that allows us to have the society that we want and the services that we will need.

We know how much of a challenge this is. Right now the Government deficit is $10 billion, with debt likely to grow to $40 billion. This is more than double existing levels. The recession will impact on us for several years.

The global economy has had a sharp reminder that growth is not automatic. Real growth requires us all to be smarter, more productive, and manage our environment and resources for long-term benefits.

The strongest economies are built on solid foundations. The cornerstone of those foundations is always education.

In opening this symposium, I want to make three main points. The first is to highlight our Tertiary Education Strategy. The second is how this integrates with our wider RS&T and economic growth agendas. The third is how vital is the teaching process that is the purpose of your symposium,  and indeed your Centre, in allowing us to fulfil the bigger vision.

The Tertiary Education Strategy recognises that we need priorities in education. These priorities include increasing the number of people obtaining qualifications at level four and above, specifically assisting Maori and Pacific Islanders achieve at higher levels, and ensuring that adult learners gain the literacy and numeracy skills that they need to participate effectively in the workforce.

Over the past ten years the number of degree completions has been static, although a far greater number of students are in tertiary education. Higher level graduations have increased very slowly. By contrast, the number of level three and below completions has gone up over 50% in the same time. We have been able to attract people into tertiary education, but taking them through to levels that will really make a difference is not happening.

Completing qualifications is also vital. There is no point increasing participation rates if students do not finish their study. There are currently over 116,000 students enrolled in degree level courses. With just under 20,000 completions, clearly a number of students are failing and there are also a significant number of students who are taking longer to complete their degrees than they should.

The tertiary strategy also prioritises strengthening research outcomes. The tertiary education system is a large and integral component of New Zealand's science and research capacity. Tertiary institutions are vital in providing the flow of scientists and technicians that our economy needs. They also undertake a considerable amount of fundamental and applied research. In fact, about one third of the $745 million in Vote RS&T is spent through universities. When you add this to the PBRF, it becomes clear that universities are in fact the largest recipients of science investment in New Zealand.

I am currently undertaking a review of our research, science, and technology spending. The major outcome is to ensure that we harness our research capacity to support economic growth, both in the short term and the long term.

To achieve this, we need to simplify the system, prioritise the spending and encourage science to migrate to business. We also need to encourage business to think ahead and harness research to develop new products and services.

"Prioritise" is a word common to both the tertiary and RS&T strategies. Over the past decade, the amount of money spent in these areas was increased considerably. Yet we have not seen much by way of extra results. Money was scattered across the system without effective ways of knowing what the outcomes were supposed to be, and measuring whether they were achieved.

In today's economic circumstances, we cannot afford this approach. We have to focus our efforts. We know that increasing budgets will be difficult, so we have to look at how we can get the best effect for the money we already have. The first step has been to clearly identify the economic growth objective. Prioritising becomes much easier when there is an over-arching goal.

What does this mean in practice? As already mentioned, in tertiary education it means focusing on completions. It costs just as much (maybe even more) to have a student that fails, rather than one who completes. The correlation between advanced qualifications and higher wages is strong. The failed student gets very little benefit from the investment that both they and the taxpayer have made.

On the research side, we are looking carefully at PBRF. We want to ensure that science that has commercial applications is not penalised through the process. Research done within institutions needs to be able to run its course in whatever form that takes, rather than being constrained by institutions having to tick off certain criteria in order to retain their PBRF ratings.

We also want to do more to encourage business to value and utilise research. This does not mean coming up with schemes such as R&D tax credits that create opportunities for smart accountants, but not necessarily for smart science. Assistance needs to be tied to an outcome.

The benefits are enormous. Developing a business culture that looks to transforming markets and developing new and unique products will allow us to compete against countries that can drive efficiencies through low-cost labour and domestic scale. We need companies emphasising R&D for the long haul, not just for short-term gains. This will also create a stronger demand for tertiary graduates with the skills that we need in our economy.

The combination of science and entrepreneurship has grown new sectors in the economy.  The wine industry now generates $1 billion in exports, up from $200 million 10 years ago. This has come about through applying skills across all facets of the business, from plant biology through to marketing. We need to look for growth in both existing and new sectors.

This is not unrealistic. New Zealand has successfully used its primary production expertise to grow and keep growing major industries from milk to aquaculture. The film and digital media industry has grown from a minnow to a major player in less than a generation. Energy has become a multi-billion dollar exporter. These industries are at a scale that attracts talent and investment. We need more of them.

Behind all of these successes are clever and motivated people. This is where you come in.

Motivation is usually a product of ability plus inspiration. That inspiration can come in many forms, but for students it most often comes from the teaching. Having been on both sides of the lecture theatre myself, I know the excitement that students can get when they connect with the delivery and ideas of a teacher who is "on form". I also know the glazed eyes that result when inspired teaching is absent!

Each week, in the higher education section of The Dominion Post newspaper, someone is asked about the people, places and events that have influenced them. This week's subject was psychologist Sara Chatwin, who noted:

"Auckland University was my academic oasis. I encountered my most wonderful mentor, Dr Barton MacArthur - a fine man who believed in me, encouraged me and made me realise the promise that lay within."

This is a typical comment that is echoed each week in just about every interview. Teachers do make a difference. We need this difference to encourage our young people to make the most of their potential, and stretch themselves in learning and in ambition.

Ako Aotearoa is about encouraging and supporting excellence in teaching and learning, so that today's mentors of tomorrow's business and community leaders can better inspire their charges to go out and excel. This Symposium will support the development and dissemination of best practice. I wish you well in your coming deliberations.