Maryan Street

Wellington, Jan 11 NZPA - The Government's failure to properly fund universities is the reason behind moves to exclude under-performing students, the Labour Party says.

The Dominion Post reported on Saturday that thousands of students could be shown the door to make way for others more motivated.

Massey University vice-chancellor Steve Maharey, a former Labour cabinet minister, said financially stressed universities had been left with no choice and prospective students would face a grilling.

Labour's tertiary education spokeswoman Maryan Street said today the Government had failed to properly fund universities at a time when a more highly-skilled workforce should be a top priority.

"Labour supports the drive for excellence in universities and the push for higher level qualifications and improved completion rates," she said.

"But our first priority must be to ensure less advantaged young people retain access to university and that when there, they are supported to succeed."

Ms Street said bridging and other support programmes had been shown to make a difference, yet the Government was showing no leadership in encouraging those programmes.

"The promotion of excellence must be balanced with the need to ensure equity of access for all New Zealanders, particularly those from less advantaged communities, which is the cornerstone of a fair education system," she said.

Labour's associate tertiary education spokeswoman, Carmel Sepuloni, said Pasifika students currently had the lowest completion rates of any ethnic group in the tertiary sector and she was concerned about the impact of the Government's cost-cutting.

NZPA