Established by Cabinet in 2004, the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence (NCTTE) fund supports a host TEO to maintain a Centre that works with TEOs to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning. The Centre covers the entire tertiary education system (including Vocational Education and Training), across all subsectors and NZQF levels.

In 2006, Massey University became the first institution to administer the NCTTE fund. Massey, leading a small consortium of TEOs, used the fund to establish National Centre as Ako Aotearoa (Ako). The contract has remained with Massey since then through a series of renewals and extensions.

Now, with the tertiary education landscape undergoing substantial changes — the Reform of Vocational Education, creation of Te Pūkenga, and roll-out of Ōritetanga Learner Success and the Unified Funding System (UFS) — it is time to test the market to see how the NCTTE fund could best be delivered in future.

“Holding the responsibility for the Centre is a leadership role across the whole tertiary education sector. It’s right at the forefront of improving tertiary sector teaching,” says Nina Ive, TEC Deputy Chief Executive of Careers and Investment Design. “There has been a lot of change in tertiary education in the past few years, and the time is right to make sure the Centre stays fit-for-purpose in today’s environment.”

The Centre’s functions are to:

• build teaching capability of TEOs and educators,
• commission and conduct research, monitoring and evaluation about effective teaching,
• provide associated advice to the sector and government agencies, and
• administer the Tertiary Teaching Awards.

An RFP process is underway to find the right institution to host the Centre, and the successful applicant will receive and administer the NCTTE fund of $3.556m per annum ex GST. The initial contract is likely to be for three years, with the potential for two extensions of up to three years each.

The RFP is open to all TEOs, and TEC will facilitate a briefing session on the process at the end of March to discuss the issues TEOs may have. Further details about the RFP, including crucial dates and proposal requirements are outlined on the TEC website.

National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence