Funding mechanism

The Minister responsible for tertiary education issues the English Language Teaching funding mechanism, this includes information on the Refugee English fund. It sets out the purpose of the fund and gives authority to the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to administer the funding.

We prioritise funding to tertiary education organisations (TEOs) located in common refugee settlement areas. West Auckland, South Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington (City), Lower Hutt, Porirua, Christchurch, Nelson, and Dunedin are the most common refugee resettlement areas, but other refugee resettlement areas are established from time to time. 

When we allocate funding, we consider:

• whether the TEO is eligible for funding,
• the nature of the provision the TEO offers, and 
• the TEO’s past performance.

Funding is then agreed through a TEO’s Investment Plan (Plan).

A TEO that receives funding from the Refugee English Fund is required to:

• comply with the requirements of the Education and Training Act 2020,
• comply with the funding conditions for the relevant year, and
• comply with any additional conditions specified in its funding approval documents.

Through each TEO’s Plan, we agree the mix of provision (MoP). This includes the:

• programmes that the funding can be used for,
• allocation of funding towards each programme, and
• volume of delivery expected from each programme.

Funding allocations and payments

Funding allocations, including any amendments, are available through the My Allocations and Payments app on Ngā Kete.

Refugee English funding is paid in equal monthly instalments.

For the calculation of indicative allocations see the methodology from the relevant year. The most recent information is at the top.

For more details regarding your specific allocation, please contact customerservice@tec.govt.nz or your Relationship Manager.

Funding rates

For information on the Refugee English funding rates, see Funding rates by year.

Pastoral care

Pastoral care funding is to be used to support the educational achievement of Refugee English learners and may also be used for pastoral care for other refugee learners at the TEO. We expect you to use it for support services, including (but not limited to):

• additional tutorial support by teachers and tutorial assistants, including one-to-one tutorials, in-class tutorial support and additional small group tutorial classes such as literacy and/or writing,
• the purchase and loan of supporting materials like textbooks and laptops for use by these students,
• academic co-ordination and career advice,
• childcare support,
• additional pastoral care, where appropriate, as well as referral to more general support services available in the community, and/or
• assistance with transport costs where these costs are a barrier to learning.

We expect each TEO to maintain an audit trail of their expenditure on support services to Refugee English learners that shows how each learner’s pastoral care funding is used.

Funding wash-ups

For the calculation of funding wash-ups see the methodology and technical specifications from the relevant year. The most recent information is at the top.

Re-enrolment

Courses

If a learner does not successfully complete one or more Delivery at Levels 3–7 (non-degree) on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework and all industry training (DQ3-7)-funded courses in their Refugee English-funded programme, you may re-enrol the learner in the course(s) so they can complete the programme and be awarded the qualification.

In these cases, the enrolment is a continuing Refugee English learner place, so it does not attract further Refugee English funding, but it does attract further DQ3-7 funding (up to the TEO's approved DQ3-7 allocation).

Programmes

If a learner withdraws from a programme without completing all of its DQ3-7-funded courses and later re-enrols in the same programme at the same TEO, this is a new learner place that does attract Refugee English funding, as well as DQ3-7 funding (up to the TEO's approved Refugee English and DQ3-7 allocations).