The University of Otago has topped teaching and learning performance rankings for the university sector, with Otago Polytechnic achieving an excellent report for its degree students, amid mixed results for other southern polytechnics.
Dunedin's two main tertiary institutions have combined to offer fast-track qualifications for people from throughout New Zealand wanting to become secondary-school technology teachers.
The results of performance-ranking criteria designed to make tertiary institutions more accountable were released last week.
Otago Polytechnic is expecting to have to turn some students away next year after being told it will not get all the Government-funded places it had hoped for.
Telford Rural Polytechnic is reviewing its correspondence courses after an audit revealed more than 70% of students were failing some courses.
While many secondary schools continue to applaud the University of Otago for raising the entry level for its programmes, one educator has criticised the timing of the new criteria's introduction.
Otago secondary schools are advising pupils to improve their NCEA grades if they want guaranteed entry to university courses next year.
The Government has been criticised for wanting to boost international student numbers at the same time as three the country's universities limit enrolments for domestic students.
Principals share union concerns job losses at the University of Otago College of Education may lead to poorer-quality teacher trainee programmes and graduates less prepared for the classroom, the president of the Otago Primary Principals Association, Jenny Clark, says.
Just what yesterday's Budget announcements will mean financially for tertiary institutions is unclear.
Students and staff at tertiary education institutions say today's budget continues a trend of underfunding the sector.
Wellington's Victoria University has announced it will not be accepting any more domestic applications for undergraduate study for the rest of the year.
People who have finished their tertiary studies but are still paying off student loans are likely to be hit with an annual administration fee.
The number of international students in New Zealand is on the rise for the first time in six years.
`Tertiary Minister Steve Joyce has selected his appointees to the restructured Otago Polytechnic council but is not releasing the names yet.
The Government has ended weeks of rumours and uncertainty by stating that it has no plans to cut equity funding which supports Maori and Pacific tertiary students and students with disabilities.
Tertiary students failing more than half their papers may be given a two-year time limit to prove they are worthy of keeping student loans.
Hitting tertiary education providers with funding penalties for high student drop out and fail rates would put teachers under pressure to give passes when they were not deserved, according to Labour tertiary education spokeswoman Maryan Street.
Telford Rural Polytechnic is considering merging with Canterbury's Lincoln University, as the tertiary shake-up and funding cuts squeeze the Balclutha institution.
