Government Tightens Students' Pastoral Care Standards By Justin Hu (he/him) and Justin Wong (he/him) The Government has announced stronger pastoral care standards will be in place for all tertiary students from next January. Under a revised code of practice, tertiary institutions will have to follow more stringent wellbeing standards and domestic students will soon have access to an independent disputes resolution scheme. Changes were sparked after the death of Canterbury University student Mason Pendrous at his student hall in 2019, where his body went undiscovered for weeks by staff. An interim code of practice for students’ pastoral care was passed into legislation later that year and was followed by a parliamentary inquiry into student accommodation in 2020. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the new standards made clear that the responsibility was shared with education providers and it would further support the wellbeing and safety of domestic and international students.
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The government also says that NZQA will be appointed as an administrator to ensure the code's new standards are being met by tertiary institutions. Education providers are also now required to have practices to take account of student voice. The finalised code comes after a twoyear campaign for improved standards by student advocates. It will merge the existing code for international students and the interim code for domestic students into a single permanent code for all providers. The new disputes resolution scheme for domestic students will use a similar model to what has already been implemented for international students in 2016. Domestic students will soon be able to access the service if they have financial or contractual disputes with an education provider that can not be resolved directly with the provider. The scheme will be run by an independent operator. The dispute resolution scheme
“Releasing the new code is a big step towards improving student experiences.
for international students will continue
“Having positive wellbeing and care is essential for young people to get the most out of their tertiary education experience, when they’re on campus or in university halls.”
New Zealand Union of Students'
operating separately.
Associations (NZUSA) president Andrew Lessells said that the finalised code was a “very good start”, but required commitment from all parties involved.
