The Ministry of Education, along with the TEC, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Career Services, are the key central government agencies in the reformed tertiary education system.
The Ministry remains the government's principal policy advisor on tertiary education matters. The Tertiary Education Strategy and Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities will be prepared by the Ministry, in consultation with the other agencies and the sector.
The Ministry's new role in tertiary education is focused increasingly on the strategic dimensions of policy formation, analysis, advice and monitoring. In the reformed system there will be a number of Ministry divisions continuing their work in the tertiary education area.
Responsibilities
The Tertiary Advisory Monitoring Unit (TAMU) was originally established in the Ministry of Education in 1998. It transferred to the Tertiary Education Commission on 1st September 2006. TAMU is responsible for managing the Government's ownership interest in the thirty-three public tertiary education institutions designated as Crown entities.
The Crown Entity Monitoring Team (CRENs) has responsibility for the government ownership monitoring of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, the Tertiary Education Commission, the New Zealand Teachers Council, and Career Services. The team is also responsible for managing the process for ministerial appointments to the boards of these entities
Tertiary Education Learning Outcomes Policy (TELOP) and Tertiary Education: Outcomes and Strategy (TEOS) - previously named Tertiary Education Regulatory & Resourcing Policy (TERRP) are responsible for strategic policy advice.
Māori Tertiary Education (Māori) has a leadership role in developing and maintaining Crown Māori relationships in tertiary education.
Sector and Buisness Services (SaBs) - previously known as TISSL - is responsible for the interface with tertiary education providers and the other government agencies in areas concerned with stewardship of information within an overall virtual Tertiary Information system approach. This includes co-ordinating the information needs of government's tertiary education agencies, overview of integrated information systems, managing the ways in which data is returned from tertiary providers to the Ministry, and for making this data accessible to both internal and external clients.
Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis and Reporting (TSPAR) team leads the Ministry's analysis of information about the performance of the sector and the dissemination of this information across government agencies and beyond.