The Role of Private Tertiary Education

Private tertiary education makes a contribution in almost every sector of New Zealand's economy and community and has done so for over 150 years. Their role is simply to serve the needs of students, employers, community groups and the wider public.

Private tertiary education providers make a contribution in almost every sector of New Zealand’s economy and community and have done so for over 150 years. Their role is simply to serve the needs of students, employers, community groups and the wider public. Many PTEs are not-for-profit organisations, despite the ‘all private providers are profit-driven’ stereotypes seen too often in the media.

PTEs developed rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s, shifting from 1-2% of enrolments to 10-15% of enrolments. Many PTEs developed into large, multi-site organisations meeting mainstream education. QTI’s members were at the front of that charge, matching high growth with excellent student outcomes.

Many QTI members operate on a similar or larger scale than the public sector in their specialist area, so while they do not have the corporate overheads of Te Pukenga, they have more focus on their specialist areas.

Private providers, and QTI members in particular, complement government-owned institutions.

Some provide foundation learning pathways for secondary students who aren’t ready for university, others provide specialist vocational programmes that complement Te Pukenga's provision, and still others provide high-quality niche degree programmes. No one loses in this arrangement, with the benefit going to our Rangatahi.

By supporting the role of the private sector, New Zealand benefits from the innovation that diverse providers can produce. While economies of scale are important in some subjects (such as medicine), the value delivered by diversity more than offsets the smaller size of some QTI members. They will continue to focus on innovation and excellence in tertiary education well into the future.

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