Background

Since the late 1980s there have been major changes to the funding of tertiary education in New Zealand. Both the student loan scheme and the targeted allowances for living costs have been the subject of on-going public debate and controversy, and frequent policy adjustments have been made since the early 1990s.

In light of this history, the conference will:

• Conduct an overview and stock-take of current policy arrangements for student finance in New Zealand and their social and economic impacts

• Provide a platform for the presentation of recent research relating to student finance

• Consider current policy arrangements in other countries and their relevance for New Zealand

• Explore options for the reform of student finance arrangements in New Zealand.

Keynote Speakers

Professor Bruce Chapman, Director, Policy Impact at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University;

Professor Chon Sun Ihm, Professor of Education and Social Policy in the Asian Studies Programme at Sejong University, South Korea;

Professor Bryan Gould, Chair of the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, and of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO;

Professor Richard James, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne;

David A. Longanecker, President of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Boulder, Colorado;

Professor Ritchie Poulton, Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit at the University of Otago;

Professor Pat Walsh, Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington.