Tertiary Education Strategy 2025–2030: a clear plan to boost skills, innovation and regional prosperity

Tertiary education which covers universities, polytechnics, wānanga, private training establishments and work-based training, equipping people with the knowledge, technical capabilities and professional judgement all required for good careers and engaged citizenship. The Tertiary Education Strategy 2025–2030 (TES) sets out New Zealand’s priorities and importance for that sector and informs public agencies and providers how Government investment will be directed over the coming five years.

This article explores and explains the Strategy’s reasoning, highlights the policy moves that matter and notes where the document offers useful or well-judged direction. It talks about the Strategy that has an economic focus as well as why that is sensible.

The TES is explicit and unapologetic. The primary objective is a tertiary sector that “enables people to succeed with knowledge and skills that advance an innovative, high-productivity economy and improve quality of life.” That economic focus responds to long-running productivity and commercialisation shortfalls. By sharpening the system’s contribution to innovation, workforce readiness and research commercialisation, the Strategy seeks to raise incomes and free public capacity for services such as health and infrastructure. This emphasis is sensible because tertiary education sits at the intersection of talent supply, idea generation and industry adoption. Strengthening the connections between campus research and business and ensuring graduates have job-relevant skills, are reasonable levers for national benefit, providing attention to the economy which is balanced with social and cultural outcomes. The TES repeatedly records the balance, improved productivity should not come at the expense of cultural enrichment, civic purpose or equitable access. 

Five interlocking priorities:

1. Achievement

• Objective: increase completion rates and ensure qualifications lead to meaningful employment and security.

• Reasoning: enrollment is not enough — successful completion and “distance travelled” from a learner’s starting point matter more. The Strategy asks providers to measure value-added outcomes, improve first-year retention and focus support on Māori, Pacific peoples, disabled learners and other under-served cohorts.

• Complement: shifting to value-added assessment is a progressive step — it rewards providers for lifting learners who arrive with low prior attainment and acknowledges individual progress.

2.Economic impact and innovation

• Objective: ensure teaching and research deliver productivity gains, commercialisation and employer-valued skills.

• Reasoning: New Zealand lags international comparators in research commercialisation and employer engagement.The TES pushes stronger industry input into programme design, new Industry Skills Boards (from 2026) to set vocational priorities and a national IP management policy to incentivise university commercialisation.

• Complement: aligning research effort with market pathways — and giving researchers clearer commercial incentives — can accelerate translation of ideas into products and jobs, a necessary corrective to low R&D intensity.

3. Access and participation

• Objective: widen participation across regions and communities and make study flexible and cumulative.

• Reasoning: barriers (financial, geographic, cultural) still impede participation for many; youth participation has declined and regional provision needs rebuilding. The Strategy advocates a federated polytechnic network, stronger secondary–tertiary pathways, micro-credentials and better online/blended provision.

• Complement: emphasising smaller, stackable credentials and work-based learning helps modernise pathways for busy adults and regional workers, a pragmatic approach to lifelong skill renewal.

4. Integration and collaboration

• Objective: deepen partnerships among providers, employers, iwi, research organisations and communities.

• Reasoning: the system is fragmented; better place-based and sectoral partnerships will align study with local labour markets and boost research uptake. Wānanga and polytechnics have distinctive regional and cultural roles that should anchor local collaborations.

• Complement: more deliberate, sustained partnerships (rather than ad hoc projects) are likely to yield durable regional benefits especially if joint infrastructure use and shared appointments are incentivised. 5. International education
  

• Objective: boost international student numbers and value, leveraging the Going for Growth Plan to double export revenue to $7.2bn by 2034.

• Reasoning: international education is both an export and a source of global connections and research collaboration. The TES sets intermediate targets (awareness and enrolments) and supports strategic marketing, agent training and AI-enabled student support.

• Complement: combining quality-focused promotion with improved student experience is necessary, quantity without quality risks reputational damage. How providers and agencies are expected to respond

Providers must align plans to TES priorities, demonstrate evidence-based approaches to learner success, strengthen employer and iwi partnerships and adapt delivery models (work-integrated, online, micro-credentials).

Specific roles are clarified:

• Universities: continue research-led teaching and meet international standards, but with stronger commercialisation and industry engagement.

• Wānanga: lead kaupapa Māori provision and contribute mātauranga Māori.

• Polytechnics: be regionally focused, rebuild sustainable local provision and support applied research.

• PTEs: continue responsive, targeted programmes and show contribution to priority outcomes. Government agencies — TEC, NZQA, ENZ, Ministry of Education, MBIE — will coordinate funding, quality assurance, international promotion and research-innovation alignment. The TEC will use the TES when allocating funds and monitoring performance, NZQA will protect qualification integrity; ENZ will drive the Going for Growth Plan.Measurement and accountability, moving beyond raw completion rates

The TES proposes broader monitoring: not just completions, but “distance travelled”, graduate earnings, employment relevance, research commercialisation (licenses, spinouts) and measures of collaboration (joint delivery, credit transfer). For international education, concrete intermediate targets for awareness and enrolments are set: from 83,400 international enrolments in 2024 to 105,000 by 2027 and 119,000 by 2034; the revenue goal is $7.2bn by 2034. The emphasis on intermediate and provider-level measures recognises the lag in outcome data and the need for more actionable indicators — a practical design.

Challenges and trade-offs the Strategy

The Strategy is pretty clear about certain fiscal constraints, demographic shifts (ageing population, growing Māori, Pacific and Asian workforce share), crazy fast technological change (AI, digital skills demand) and international competition for the best talents. These headwinds justify TES priorities but also require careful implementation: funding pressures will demand prioritisation and providers may face difficult trade-offs.

Overall assessment

The TES 2025–2030 is a focused, coherent blueprint that rightly lifts the economic purpose of tertiary education while reiterating commitment to equity and cultural values. Notable strengths include the push for measurable “distance travelled” outcomes, recognition of regional polytechnic roles and explicit support for research commercialisation. Implementation will be the test: strong governance, pragmatic funding choices, authentic industry partnerships and culturally grounded provision will be needed to turn strategy into tangible gains.