Pursuant to sections 159R, 159Y and 159YO of the Education Act 1989, the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) gives the following notice.

N o t i c e

1. Title—This notice may be cited as the Education (Proposed Investment Plans: Requirements, Content, Submission and Assessment; and Plan Summaries for the ACE in Communities Fund) Notice 2015.

2. Commencement—This notice applies from the date of its publication.

3. Application—This notice applies to tertiary education organisations (TEOs) seeking funding from the ACE in Communities Fund only.

The ACE in Communities Fund is part of the Adult and Community Education (ACE) Fund, which is a fund made available in accordance with the Adult and Community Education funding mechanism determined by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment under section 159L of the Education Act 1989 (ACE funding mechanism).

The following TEOs are eligible to seek funding from the ACE in Communities Fund:

• Private training establishments (PTEs);
• rural education activities programmes (REAP) providers;
• community education providers (CEPs); and
• state or state integrated schools.

This notice does not apply to TEOs seeking funding from the ACE in Communities Fund as well as other on Plan funding available from TEC.

4. Introduction—The ACE funding mechanism specifies that the TEC must pay funding from the ACE in Communities Fund via an Investment Plan (“Plan”), in accordance with section 159YA of the Education Act 1989 (“the Act”).

Therefore, to be eligible to access TEC funding from the ACE in Communities Fund, TEOs are required to submit a proposed plan.

Funding from the ACE in Communities Fund is available to fund the tertiary education programmes and activities described in a proposed plan submitted by a TEO for a period of one year.

Previous allocation of TEC funding does not entitle a TEO to future funding at any level from the TEC.

The amount of detail in the proposed plan will depend on the size and complexity of the TEO submitting the plan.

5. Plan Content—In accordance with section 159R of the Act, a proposed plan must include the following information.

(i) Strategic Intent

Performance story

A TEO’s proposed plan must outline the value proposition that the TEO will deliver over the coming year – its performance story – including:

• the TEO’s mission and distinctive role within the overall network of provision;
• its strategic direction, comprising:
• the TEO’s proposed outcomes for the coming year, and why the TEO has decided to seek those outcomes, given government priorities and the needs of the TEO’s stakeholders; and
• what the TEO is going to do and produce (ie activities and outputs) over the coming year in order to achieve those outcomes, and why those are the right things to do and produce given the TEO’s operating environment, government priorities, the needs of its stakeholders, and evidence about what works; and
• how the TEO intends to measure its progress in achieving its strategic direction, including what indicators it will use.

A TEO’s proposed plan must also summarise:

• how the TEO has identified the needs of its stakeholders in the community it serves, including:
• employers, businesses or industries relevant to the TEO’s areas of delivery;
• learners or prospective learners, in particular those who are Māori, or Pasifika, or under the age of 25, or who have low levels of literacy, language, and numeracy; and
• the communities that support Māori and Pasifika learners; and
• how the TEO has performed against the commitments it made in its last plan (for TEOs that have previously received plan funding);
• the findings of any quality assurance reviews;
• any changes the TEO is making that are likely to have a significant impact on its educational performance or other outcomes; and
• any new activities the TEO is contemplating undertaking over the next three years.

Contribution to Government priorities

A TEO’s proposed plan must also explain how the TEO intends to respond to the Government’s priorities in the Tertiary Education Strategy 2014–2019 in the coming year. This must include information about how the TEO will:

• attract and engage at-risk young people and support them to progress through tertiary education and into sustainable work (“Getting at-risk young people into a career”);
• attract and engage Māori and Pasifika learners and support them to succeed educationally and achieve better employment outcomes (“Boosting achievement of Māori and Pasifika”); and
• respond to the needs of adult foundation learners with literacy and numeracy skills (“Improving adult literacy and numeracy”).

(ii) Summary of Activity

A TEO’s proposed plan must include a Summary of Activity for the period of the proposed plan. The proposed courses/activities must align with, and support the achievement of, the mission presented in the proposed plan.

The Summary of Activity must include information about:

• planned courses/activities for which funding is sought from the TEC, including planned learner numbers (this information must be provided using the TEC template provided for this purpose); and
• total TEC funding sought (this information must be provided using the TEC template provided for this purpose).

6. Plan Assessment Criteria—In accordance with clause 159Y of the Act, the TEC will use the following criteria to assess proposed Plans to determine whether they will receive funding approval:

• The TEO has described its mission and role, and shows an awareness of the TEO’s place in the regional and national tertiary system;
• the TEO has clearly and accurately identified its stakeholders, including:
• learners or prospective learners, in particular those who are Māori, or Pasifika, or under the age of 25, or who have low levels of literacy, language, and numeracy; and
• the communities that support Māori and Pasifika learners; and
• the TEO has ascertained the needs of its stakeholders through consultation with its community;
• the TEO’s proposed courses/activities to be funded respond to the needs of its stakeholders and Priorities 1–4 of the Tertiary Education Strategy 2014–2019, and primarily focus on:
• literacy, digital literacy, and/or numeracy;
• English language, including English For Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL);
• New Zealand Sign language; or
• Te Reo Māori; and
• the TEC considers that the TEO is likely to be able to deliver the courses/activities described in the proposed plan;
• the TEC considers that the TEO’s proposed courses/activities are desirable and appropriate in the context of regional and national need and the proposed programmes and activities of other TEOs;
• the TEO’s proposed performance commitments are:
• relevant, so that they give meaningful information about the TEO’s progress toward its proposed outcomes; and
• clearly presented.
• if applicable, the TEO has performed well against its current and its previous plans, and in particular has:
• a history of good performance and compliance with TEC requirements, including:
• managing delivery volumes;
• meeting its Plan commitments and KPIs; and
• use of the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (Assessment Tool) (as appropriate); and
• demonstrated satisfactory financial performance, including, for PTEs only, meeting the TEC’s Prudential Financial Standards for PTEs;
• been assessed as satisfactory in terms of its last external review by the relevant quality assurance body;
• complied with conditions imposed on funding approval; and
• complied with its obligations to report to TEC.

When assessing proposed Plans against the criteria, the TEC will take a holistic approach and may use a range of evidence, including, without limitation, the information contained in a proposed Plan, TEC monitoring information (including funding, performance, organisational, and financial data), institutional Annual Reports and Strategic Plans, Quality Assurance Bodies’ information and reports, Plan engagement (where applicable), and both national and regional demographic and economic data.

Funding approval is subject to conditions that the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment has determined the TEC must attach to the funding, and conditions that the TEC considers are necessary to ensure that the specified outcomes in a Plan that relate to tertiary education programmes and activities are being or will be achieved.

7. Plan Summaries—In accordance with section 159YO of the Act, TEOs seeking funding under this notice must prepare a summary of the Plan (“Plan Summary”). The Plan Summary must include all the material described in the “Plan Content” part in this notice. However, the TEO is not required to include information in its Plan Summary that would:

• disclose a trade secret;
• be likely to unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the organisation; or
• prejudice or disadvantage the commercial activities of the organisation.

TEOs must ensure that:

• the Plan Summary is available for inspection by the public; and
• copies of that Plan Summary may be obtained either at no cost or no more than a reasonable cost.

8. Timelines and Processes—The following table sets out the timeline for the plan process.

Dated at Wellington this 7th day of May 2015.

TIM FOWLER, Chief Executive, Tertiary Education Commission.