This funding was an initial contribution toaddress some immediate funding issues to better enableuniversities to remain internationally competitive

I amvery pleased with the way the various parties with differentperspectives have come together and workedcollaboratively.All three parties have a commitment tohelp address the funding issues of universities, with a viewto increasing the quality of teaching Rosetta Stone and research. I lookforward to continuing my discussions with you and theVice-Chancellors over the next year. As we move toimplement the tertiary reforms we will look to what othersteps we can take to strengthen the long-term sustainabilityof universities and create the conditions that will fosterexcellent teaching and research. You have asked for mycomments on restructuring underway in a number ofinstitutions. I expect - and even welcome - the idea ofchange.I am not a conservative and I do not believe weshould strive to keep everything exactly as itis.Institutions have to adapt to changing circumstance,change is necessary and integral to the success of thereforms I've talked about today.Some of the restructuringanticipates the reforms. Many institutions are alreadyconsidering how they could best meet stakeholder needs inthe future. Some would be made anyway. But the bestplace for those decisions to be made is within theinstitutions themselves.The day a minister begins todecide which courses should be offered by institutions willbe the day autonomy .Universities are autonomous bylegislation, governed by their own councils, and I hope youwill jealously defend their autonomy.University Councilshave to reflect the community they serve and everyone whohas a stake.The Vice Chancellor is the legal employer ofuniversity staff. It would therefore be inappropriate forthe Tertiary Education Commission, the minister or anyoneelse to intervene in internal decisions.The role of thetertiary minister is to ensure that the system is focusedand resourced to contribute positively to our store ofknowledge, our research and our skills.The reforms I'vetalked about today will improve the way universities andother tertiary institutions operate and contribute.Thereare still a number of areas of work that need further inputfrom stakeholders, including the AUS, before the system isfully Rosetta Stone Chinese implemented in 2008. I know you will let me knowwhere you think we can do better.Before I conclude, I dofind myself wondering how I would receive this speech to youtoday if I was sitting on the other side of the lectern andstill a university academic. In my day, the greatest extentto which my learned colleagues and I discussed tertiaryeducation policy and funding was when fiercely competingwith each other in the Staff Club as to which of ourrespective fields of research and teaching was of moreimportance to students, parents, New Zealanders, ourinternational peers, we could debate on and on. Therewas always an underlying assumption that tertiary education,particularly higher education, was of utmost importance toour community of scholars, students, our country.Ibelieve that this government's underpinning philosophy forthe tertiary reforms is no different today, than our StaffClub musings then.The question behind the framework forthe tertiary reforms is how New Zealands higher educationsystem can contribute to our country's economic development,our strategies for improving the skills and productivity ofthe workforce, working with business to find innovative waysof creating value and harnessing new technologies to improveeconomic performance.While I may have previously seenthis philosophy as being purely utilitarian, be assured thatthis government does not take a narrow, utilitarian view totertiary education (there are, after all, at least threepeople around the Cabinet table who are all students andteachers of a general liberal education).A high qualitytertiary education system includes universities that canmeasure and indicate their success comparatively to anyother university in the world, will be a custodian of ourdiverse cultures, languages, history and worldviews. This isa key foundation to strengthening our great country'snational identity.Quality teaching and research in Rosetta Stone French thetertiary system will not only bring economic benefits to thebeholder but improve social outcomes and personal wellbeing, and is essential to the development, health andsecurity of New Zealand families, young and old. Thankyou.