We appreciate, and are considering, your feedback. We expect to publish the finalised SPA and RP criteria in a Gazette notice in the first quarter of 2025.

TEC is required by the Education and Training Act 2020 to set criteria for significant plan amendments and replacement plans. 

It’s normal for there to be changes to Investment Plans during an approved funding period. 

The proposed criteria are intended to:

• enable tertiary education organisations (TEOs) to make some changes without our approval
• clarify when we need to approve more significant changes.

If a proposed change: 

• meets the criteria, a tertiary provider must ask us to approve the change.
• does not meet the criteria, a tertiary provider can make that change without our approval.

We are considering your feedback to ensure the criteria, once finalised: 

• create more certainty for providers
• allow flexibility, and 
• reduce compliance.

There are two ways an SPA or RP can progress using the draft criteria:

• a provider satisfies the criteria for an SPA or RP and asks us to approve any changes, or
• we are satisfied that a provider meets the criteria for an SPA or RP, and we require them to reassess their existing plan with a view to changing or replacing it.

See the SPA and RP criteria that we consulted on:

Proposed significant plan amendment and replacement criteria for external consultation (PDF 172 KB)

Supporting information for tertiary providers

The SPA and RP criteria are secondary legislation, so we need to use legal language when we draft them. We have published supporting information to help tertiary providers understand the criteria we consulted on.

The document contains:

• Frequently Asked Questions about the consultation
• the key questions we’d like to hear from you about
• a plain-language version of each criterion.

Supporting information on the consultation of significant plan amendments and replacement plans (PDF 407 KB)

Questions from providers at information sessions and responses

We met with tertiary providers on 15 and 16 October to discuss the proposed criteria with them. Tertiary providers asked us questions which we have provided below with the responses.

Questions from information sessions and responses (PDF 305 KB)