Latest news with #tertiaryeducation
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Does getting NCEA mean you earn more?
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement will be gone by 2030. File photo. Photo: 123rf NCEA may be on the way out - but has it been delivering better jobs and income for the students who've completed it? The system has been in place for more than 20 years, giving students level one to three qualifications as part of their high school education. But with about 70 percent of school leavers going on to some form of tertiary education, does the fact of having NCEA level one, two or three improve a person's earning potential? And how much? Data indicates that it probably does - and the further you progress through the levels, the better. Education Counts research, produced in 2020, showed that someone who left school in 2009 with no qualifications and who did not get any in the next nine years was earning nearly 40 percent less than those who got NCEA level one or equivalent. They were earning nearly half what people with a level two qualification earned, 80 percent of what people earned who had University Entrance, and about a third of what someone earned who went on to finish a degree. One in 10 people who left school in 2019 had no qualifications in 2018. "For the small percentage of 2009 school leavers who got NCEA Level Three without UE, there was no significant earnings benefit, on average, over those who left with NCEA Level Two." But the research noted it was a general trend, rather than a hard rule. "One in three degree-holders, and around one in four doctorate-holders earned less than the median income of those with school qualifications. "Similarly, not having qualifications doesn't guarantee low earnings. Around 30 percent of 30- to 34-year-olds with no qualifications earned more than the median income of people with a school qualification, and 20 percent earned more than the median income of those with a degree." The research noted that the chances of working at all were higher with a Level Two qualification. "Less than half of those with no school qualifications were employed nine years after leaving school. Non-employment accounts for much of the earnings disadvantage of this group, but even when comparing employed only, this group earns 15 percent to 30 percent less than any other group." Figures provided to RNZ earlier by Education Minister Erica Stanford showed 13,496 Year 11s who attempted a full NCEA Level One programme last year fell short while 31,524 were successful. Massey University Professor of management Jarrod Haar said educated people were more likely to have higher paying jobs in general. But he said secondary qualifications did not need to be "fatal" to a person's career. He said some people who dropped out of school were able to go back to study in their 20s very successfully and earn tertiary qualifications. "Like most things once you get working you get work experience and pick up work-related skills anyway. "It always used to be a funnel to identify who could go to uni but as we've become more universal in accepting people for study, which is probably a good thing, it's broadened the scope of whose who go to tertiary education anyway." He said employers would adjust to whatever qualification system the government brought in. Census data shows that for people with qualifications up to Level Three, the highest average income was earned by those in communications and media, who were getting an average $78,000. That was followed by science and technology at $77,000. Hayley Pickard, founder of recruiter Fortitude Group said there was a global trend that the higher an individual's level of education the more access they had to job opportunities and further learning. She said the changes proposed seemed positive. "The renewed emphasis on core skills, particularly literacy and numeracy, also reflects this global shift toward ensuring that students meet key learning benchmarks before progressing. "This focus may support improved long-term outcomes, both in employment and further education. "At the same time, it's important to recognise that formal education isn't the only path to success. Many people excel through vocational pathways, entrepreneurship, or self-directed learning. "Some of the most capable and successful individuals I know have achieved a great deal despite having left school early." Brad Olsen, chief executive at Infometrics, said it was concerning that 43 percent of employers had told researchers they did not consider NCEA Level One when they were making a recruitment decision and more than 70 percent did not think it was a reliable measure of knowledge and skills. If employers did not have confidence or understand it, it could mean people were hired who were not suitable or not at the level the employer was expecting. "If as a business owner you are expecting a certain level of skills and you don't get that it can be frustrating and relationships between workers and bosses might be more fragile." He said it was encouraging that it seemed the government planned to introduce a system with more focus on employability. Secondary school qualifications played a big role in determining what students' next steps would be, Olsen said. It would be a benefit if the system was able to encourage people down the right "pathway" more quickly, he said. "You don't want to dictate too early but you want to make sure they generally have some idea where they are going." Olsen said it had seemed the NCEA system had a "uni or nothing" focus but it would be beneficial if students were encouraged into trades when it was appropriate, too. 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Yahoo
27-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Educated but still unemployed: How does unemployment vary among university graduates across Europe?
Does a university degree lower your chances of being unemployed in Europe? Yes. Across all EU countries, the unemployment rate is lower for university graduates than for the general population. However, it is still not possible to say 'yes' for all countries because there is one exception among 33 European countries as of 2024: Turkey. University graduates face a higher unemployment rate than the overall population in Turkey, according to Eurostat. Both the unemployment gap and the unemployment ratio between graduates and the total population vary widely across Europe. So, in which countries does higher education make the biggest difference? In 2024, among 33 countries, including EU member states, EU candidates, and EFTA countries, the unemployment rate for people aged 15–74 ranged from 2.6% in Czechia to 11.4% in Spain. These figures reflect the overall population, without considering education levels. The EU average was 5.9%. At the top, Greece (10.1%), Turkey (8.8%), Serbia (8.6%), and both Finland and Sweden (8.4%) followed Spain, reporting unemployment rates above 8%. At the bottom of the list, together with Czechia, Poland (2.9%), Malta (3.1%), Germany (3.4%), Iceland (3.6%), as well as the Netherlands and Slovenia (both 3.7%), recorded unemployment rates below 4%. University graduates and unemployment: The countries with the highest rates Among university graduates, defined as those with tertiary education, according to the ISCED classification, unemployment rates in 2024 ranged from 1.4% in Czechia and Poland to 9.2% in Turkey. The EU average stood at 3.8%. After Turkey, the highest unemployment rates among university graduates were recorded in Greece (7.3%), Spain (6.9%), Serbia (6.5%), and France (5%). Related Eurozone unemployment ticks up modestly as tariff uncertainty lingers Can you afford to live here? Europe's cities ranked by rent-to-salary ratio Unemployment gap: Overall population vs university graduates When comparing unemployment rates between the general population and university graduates, Turkey was the only country in 2024 where the rate was higher for university graduates than for the overall population. The difference was –0.4 percentage points (pp). 'It is indeed unusual for the unemployment rate among tertiary education graduates to be greater than others in the workforce,' OECD's Turkey desk told Euronews. The largest gap was recorded in Spain by 4.5 pp. The unemployment rate was 11.4% for the overall population compared to 6.9% for university graduates in Spain. The EU average was 2.1 pp (5.9% vs 3.8%). Since unemployment rates vary significantly across countries, absolute differences may not fully reflect the extent of the gap. To better compare countries, the ratio between the unemployment rate of the general population and that of university graduates can be useful. A ratio below 1 indicates that the unemployment rate is higher among the tertiary-educated than the general population. A ratio of 1 means there is no difference between the two groups. The higher the ratio goes above 1, the more significantly unemployment is higher among the general population than among university graduates. EU: General unemployment 55% higher than among graduates Turkey is the only country with a ratio below 1, at 0.96, while the EU average stands at 1.55. This means that, in the EU, the unemployment rate among the general population is, on average, 1.55 times that of university graduates—or 55% higher. The ratio is also 1.23 in Cyprus, 1.26 in Switzerland, and 1.31 in Germany, and 1.32 in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Serbia. This suggests that unemployment rates among the general population and university graduates are relatively close in these countries. Romania (2.84), Slovakia (2.65), Bulgaria (2.63) and Hungary (2.50) have the highest ratios, meaning university graduates have significantly lower unemployment rates than the overall population. Related Bean vs. cup: Where is the most expensive takeaway coffee in Europe? Wage growth in Europe: Which jobs have seen the biggest increases? No other country has ever shared Turkey's case Is 2024 an exception? What about other years? Euronews Business also looked at the period from 2004 to 2024. Over these 21 years, Turkey was the only country where university graduates faced a higher unemployment rate than the general population. This fact occurred in 12 different years, starting in 2011. No other country recorded this even once during the entire period according to the data available from Eurostat. The line chart also shows a downward trend in the EU, indicating that the unemployment gap between the tertiary-educated and the overall population is narrowing. In 2022, Turkey had the third-lowest share of tertiary graduates in Europe, following Romania (17.4%) and Italy (18.5%). In Turkey, 20.6% of the population aged 25–74 held a university degree according to Eurostat. University boom in Turkey However, this picture may change for Turkey. In 2019, Turkey had the highest rate of university students relative to its population, with 95 students per 1,000 people—more than double the EU average of 38, according to Eurostat. According to Turkey's Higher Education Board, there were 53 public universities in 2003. This number rose dramatically to 129 by 2018. As of 2024, Turkey has 129 public universities and 75 private, foundation-based universities, bringing the total to 204. 'This rapid expansion was, in part, due to a government policy to establish a university in every province,' OECD told Euronews. According to OECD's Turkey desk, as in many countries, the quantity of tertiary-level graduates has grown faster than the number of jobs that require a degree. As a result this has eroded the previous benefits of having a university degree — ease of getting a job and higher wages. 'In Türkiye's case the erosion has been extreme, notably as regards rates of unemployment,' OECD officials told. Related Skilled workers wanted in Europe: But is the EU's Blue Card attractive enough? OECD: Time to prioritise the quality of tertiary education OECD explained that 'rapid expansion of the university sector has made it difficult to uphold the quality of tertiary courses, aggravating the decline in labour-market returns to students'. 'As our surveys point out, the government's tertiary education policy needs to now prioritise the quality of tertiary education and the relevance of courses for the labour market." OECD also noted that there seems to be a large gap between the skills demanded by the labour market and the skills acquired by students in universities in Turkey. Their survey points to Turkey's relative low share of graduates in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.
ABC News
01-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
University study hubs help keep students in regional Australia
Tertiary education has largely remained a challenge for people who don't want to leave their regional communities for a city. However, four regional towns in Western Australia have seen the benefit of the Lumen Wheatbelt Regional University Study Hub program. The program gives students enrolled in university or TAFE access to facilities and support rather than completing their education all online. It has been a staged rollout for the hubs since 2022 in the small towns of Merredin, Wongan Hills, Narrogin and York. Former English teacher Natalie Warnock is completing a Master of Education in Merredin, 260 kilometres east of Perth. She said when she started her course, she felt disconnected from the classroom and her peers. "There were no systems or physical supports in place for people living remotely, so it was just me trying to find time to study in between teaching," she said. "I was pretty excited when the study hub came to town. "Because as someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD and is neurodivergent, if I'm left to my own devices nothing tends to get done and it is a last-minute rush. "Now after work I go to the study hub to do my work, I don't have distractions and have a designated space to connect with other like-minded students and staff to answer any questions I may have." York-based musician and former TAFE lecturer Christian Gibbs decided to complete a Diploma of Counselling after noticing a need for mental health support among musicians. For Mr Gibbs, knowing he could access the facilities at his local study hub in York, 100km east of Perth, was a relief. "It was a really big relief to be in a different environment and get out of my head to reframe the learning experience and formalise it a little bit," he said. As a former educator, Mr Gibbs said he had seen first-hand what happened when students did not have access to education support in regional areas. "We need to make sure that the younger generations coming through from long-standing families, and new families coming to towns like York, know that they have options so that they can stay in the town that they love, with the people that they love," Mr Gibbs said. "If we have to travel to get our tertiary education, it's easy to think we have to look for a job and relocate to major cities where these institutions are based. "If we can keep people in their home towns maybe we can get them to see that the jobs they are studying for can have a meaningful application in the town they come from." Wongan Hills business owner Mandy Walker utilises her local study hub to complete her Masters in Economic and Regional Development. For Ms Walker, access to the Wongan Hills hub, 175km north-east of Perth, eliminates the need to commute. "Primarily I needed a space to do my exams, having exclusive access to a room but also having that contact with people again," she said. "It means I don't have to travel to Perth. I can do my day job and have access to the university study hub." Ms Walker said there was a misconception about the availability of career growth in regional areas. "You have the opportunity to step up and into roles that you might not have access to in the city because in the regions there aren't always the people to fill those positions," she said. Program director Elise Woods said regional students often had tough decisions to make before taking up higher education studies. "Many of our students have barriers around their ability to relocate to where you can access a campus, which has financial stress and sometimes emotional stress involved in having to leave home," she said. "A lot of our students are also mature-aged students who already have well-established lives, families and jobs in the regions who aren't in a position to move hours away to complete studies. "We want to see people who live in the regions, study here and go on to work in the regions." Ms Woods said the growth in online learning during the COVID pandemic helped pave the way for the regional hubs. "It was a big wake-up call to universities on what is possible, and to students that they could access education from their homes," she said. "As a WA network we are constantly giving feedback to universities about how they can deliver courses better for regional students." Flinders University emeritus professor John Halsey said the ability to stay in place allowed communities to thrive. "If you have a large outflow of people leaving regional towns to pursue further studies, you are taking rich resources out of the community," Dr Halsey said. "Where university study hubs exist, you're bringing expertise into the town, which stimulates economic activity, and while economic activity is not the be all and end all, it is absolutely critical to the vibrancy of towns." Dr Halsey said attitudinal change towards the contributions made by those living in the regions would help aid the divide in access to education in regional and metropolitan areas.
RNZ News
22-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Polytech job cuts: 'The mood has changed from anger to sadness'
About 300 jobs are under threat at eight polytechs, says the Tertiary Education Union. File photo. Photo: Supplied Job and course cuts across the polytechnic sector are a nightmare, the Tertiary Education Union says. The union estimates that about 300 jobs are under threat at eight of the 16 institutions, with restructuring plans expected shortly from two more. The proposed cuts ranged from performing arts courses in Wellington to agriculture courses in Northland. Tertiary Education Union national secretary Sandra Grey said the institutes were doing what the government had told them to do. "The directive from the government was really, really clear. It was cut, cut, cut until you're financially stable and there's a huge problem with that because when you cut staff numbers, you cut the number of courses, you cut the viability of the institutions. This is a nightmare," she said. Grey said the scale of change was unprecedented. "In any given week I can receive two or three change proposals. That's individual groups of staff being affected, individual courses that are being cut," she said. "In the worst case scenario its almost one-in-five staff and that is massive for those communities as well because not only is that cutting courses for learners but that's taking money out of the local economy." Whitiereia Polytechnic TEU branch president Helen Johnstone said she had never seen anything like it in her 20 years at the institute. "We have had time and time again cuts across that period of time and lots of changes but for me this is the most significant that I have experienced. The most significant in terms of the impact on our particular polytechnic and what services and courses will be available and left for students." Johnstone said staff seemed resigned to the changes. "The mood has actually changed from anger to sadness," she said. "We went along to a staff update meeting and the mood in the room was just silence. I think everybody's in shock... that this is actually happening." Polytechnic and Te Pūkenga managers refused RNZ's request for an interview as did Vocational Education minister Penny Simmonds. But former Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker agreed the cuts were unprecedented. He said polytechnics had been struggling to make ends meet for years, but they had not all cut courses and staff at the same time. "This so-called viability issue has been around since I took up my chief executive job at Otago in 2004," he said. "There's been all sorts of work put in place at an institutional level to try and survive for the last 20 years plus. So there's always been some staffing reviews and job churn but what we're seeing now is a whole lot happening at the same time." Ker said the current round of cuts was aimed at creating financially-viable, stand-alone institutes but it would not work. "They're standing up on the basis of severe short-term cuts. There isn't a strong under-pinning financial model," he said. "These are all short-term fixes. It's looking for which programmes are the weak links right now, chop them out, shows a short-term benefit on the revenue statement and then a year down the track we'll see something else that's not 'viable' in inverted commas." Ker said the fundamental problem was everyone wanted a polytechnic system but nobody wanted to pay for it, least of all the government. "It's an inconvenient truth that we would like to have a really good vocational education system, but we don't want to pay for it. Employers don't want to pay directly for their training and the government doesn't want to pay adequately their share of the cost." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Vocational Education Penny Simmonds says staff to student ratios at polytechnics abysmal
Vocational education minister Penny Simmonds. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds says the staff to student ratios have been abysmal. Appearing before the Education and Workforce Select Committee to answer questions about the government's Budget decisions for Tertiary Education, Simmonds said institutions' ratio of staff to students was critical for their viability. She said polytechnics had reduced their staff numbers by 8.2 percent on a headcount basis and about 4.9 percent on a full-time equivalent basis but their staff to student ratios were still lower than they were in 2016-17. "Those ratios are critical to the viability of an institution. If you're running at a ratio of less than one to 18 for academic staff to students, you are in financial trouble and they are low," she said. Simmonds said a number of polytechnics were "incredibly damaged by the last four or five years under Te Pūkenga". She said they had lost domestic enrolments, failed to rebuild international enrolments quickly, and had not responded quickly to changes. Simmonds said Te Pūkenga should have addressed staff surpluses at loss-making polytechnics more quickly. She said it had not become financially sustainable, even though it recorded a financial surplus last year. Simmonds and Universities Minister Shane Reti insisted government funding for tertiary education was increasing as a result of the Budget. Committee member and Labour Party MP Shanan Halbert said Budget figures showed total tertiary funding would drop $124m in the 2025/26 financial year to $3.79b. Tertiary Education Commission officials said the drop was due to the end of the previous government's temporary, two-year funding boost and moving the fees free policy to the final year of students' study. Simmonds said the government ended equity funding for Māori and Pacific students because it wanted to target extra funding to needs not ethnicity. She said if a Māori student who was dux of their school enrolled in a polytechnic qualification, their enrolment would attract the equity weighting, even though they had no need of additional support, which she said did not make sense. Tertiary Education Commission chief executive Tim Fowler told the committee enrolments had grown so much that institutions were asking for permission to enrol more students this year than they had agreed with the commission in the investment plans that determined their funding. "We've had most of the universities come to us and ask to exceed their investment plan allocation... over 105 percent this year. In previous years, I think we might have had one in the past decade, so unprecedented levels of enrolments," he said. Fowler said it was the commission's job to balance that growth, favouring government priorities such as STEM subject enrolments and removing funding from under-enrolled courses. "We're continually adjusting in-flight what that investment looks like and where we see areas where there is demand that we want to support we try and move money to it. Where there's areas of under-delivery, we try and take that out as quickly as we possibly can so it doesn't fly back to the centre - we want to reinvest it elsewhere," he said. "The challenge for us this year, there are far fewer areas of under-delivery than there is over-delivery." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
