Discovering tertiary education through others’ eyes and words: exploring submissions to New Zealand’s review of its tertiary education sector

ABSTRACT

A general inductive analysis was applied to 98 submissions made to a recent review of New Zealand’s tertiary education system, primarily to enable those interested to engage with multiple viewpoints about this highly complex educational system. The analysis yielded three substantial themes that reoccur throughout the submissions and that may warrant further research. The three themes relate to: competition, incorporating willingness and ability to compete at different levels in the sector; trust, incorporating expectations of being trusted to provide high-quality educational support for all learners as well as, to varying degrees, an expectation that the broad outcomes of this high-quality educational support should be trusted, rather than measured, by all stakeholders; and the purpose of the educational endeavour being considered and whether or not different parts of the sector do, or should, emphasise different purposes. The analysis yielded a model or theory about the underlying structure of the experiences illustrated by the 98 submissions that may assist those interested in tertiary education to address the new models of tertiary education being considered by the review.

KEYWORDS:

• Balancing trust and responsibility
• competition
• higher education policy
• higher education research
• responsibility
• tertiary education
• tertiary education roles
• trust

Disclosure statement

The author has no financial benefit associated with this article other than through his employment as a professor within New Zealand’s higher education sector.