Budget 2015

Budget 2015

Last updated 1 November 2016
Last updated 1 November 2016

A stronger economy with more people in paid work, and a declining 18-25 age group, meant that demand for tertiary education was softening in 2015.

Budget 2015 responded to this reduced demand by investing in tertiary education initiatives that would:

  • maintain the Government’s investment in tertiary education
  • improve the economic contribution of the tertiary education system
  • take steps toward delivering on the Government’s manifesto commitments.

Budget 2015 encouraged providers to deliver more of the skills New Zealand was in need of by directing funding towards:

  • targeted increases in tuition subsidies, at degree level and above, for science, agriculture and horticulture, optometry, pharmacy and physiotherapy
  • activities to increase the number of engineering graduates, including more engineering places
  • additional places in .

Budget 2015 also supported improved communication between industry and providers, and promised to provide students with better information through the development of .

The Government signalled its plan to identify changes it could make to the funding system to:

  • make funding more responsive to changes in demand, and to 
  • allow providers that were innovative and achieved good results for learners, to increase their funding.

For more detailed information on the 2015 Budget, read the following:

Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment’s media release

Ministry of Education