Managing potential breaches of the ‘inducement to enrol’ rules.

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has published rules governing inducements to enrol.  You can find them at this link; TEC SAC Level 3 + Funding Conditions 2017.

The TEC and Universities New Zealand (UNZ) have agreed that UNZ will oversee the operation and interpretation of the rules for the New Zealand university sector via a Policy.  If you have questions regarding the Policy itself and how to interpret it, please email contact@universitiesnz.ac.nz in the first instance.

The Policy has been agreed with the TEC.

If you believe that a university may be in breach of the TEC’s inducement to enrol rules please read and follow the processes detailed in this Policy.

You will note that the Policy says that three things will be published on this webpage.  They are:

1. A list of university email addresses. 

Where you believe there may have been a breach of the ‘inducement to enrol’ rules, you must notify the university concerned in the first instance and they will have 30 days to respond to you.

 -         University of Auckland: to be advised

-          Auckland University of Technology: jbygrave@aut.ac.nz

-          University of Waikato: unipr@waikato.ac.nz

-          Massey University: contact@massey.ac.nz

-          Victoria University of Wellington: disputes@vuw.ac.nz

-          University of Canterbury: iain.macpherson@canterbury.ac.nz

-          Lincoln University: info@lincoln.ac.nz

-          University of Otago: registrar@otago.ac.nz.

 2. A Universities NZ email address.

If the university above has not responded to you within 30 days or you are not satisfied with their response, you should then refer the matter to Universities NZ at the following email address: contact@universitiesnz.ac.nz

3. Additional guidelines and clarifications to the Rules.  

The TEC website link above will take you to the definitive set of rules regarding what is and what isn’t an inducement to enrol.  Occasionally questions arise around the interpretation of the rules and examples or supplementary guidance is required. 

a. Are scholarships considered an inducement to enrol?

No, universities are able to provide scholarships. These may be awarded on the basis of merit (e.g. to students who have achieved to a high level at school) and/or on the basis of need to support the participation and achievement of groups who are under-represented or disadvantaged in university study (see below).

b. Can a scholarship be targeted at or limited to particular groups of students or those from a particular geographical region? 

Yes. For example, a university may decide to target scholarships to students traditionally under-represented in university education. (e.g. Māori and Pacific students, students with disabilities, those from a refugee background, those from rural areas, lower decile schools, etc.).

c. What can be included in a scholarship? 

A scholarship can be a cash payment, or it may cover (or contribute in part to covering) such things as tuition fees, accommodation costs while studying. A scholarship may also include other items or elements that support the recipient to develop to their full potential (refer to TEC website for further details on this).

d. What may constitute an inducement? 

An inducement may include items other than scholarships, that are provided in return for enrolling (e.g. if a university offered every student who enrolled a smartphone in return for enrolling, that would be an inducement). Inducements may also include items within scholarship packages that are frivolous or tangential to supporting a recipient’s academic performance and development (e.g. a bunch of flowers, or hotel accommodation for a weekend break).