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.

The criteria will: 

• 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.

We are interested in your feedback on the proposed SPA and RP criteria. We would like to know whether:

• the proposed criteria for SPAs and RPs are reasonable
• the equivalent full-time students (EFTS) and hours thresholds for private training establishments (PTEs) are reasonable
• the assessment criteria are clear.

See the SPA and RP criteria for consultation:

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 proposed criteria.

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)

TEC-funded providers and their peak bodies can provide feedback on the SPA and RP criteria by 5pm on Friday 15 November. Your feedback will help develop the criteria that works best for providers and TEC. Please send your feedback to customerservice@tec.govt.nz with the subject line "Submission on Significant Plan Amendments and Replacement Plans".

We know there are a lot of demands on your time, but we do hope you can provide feedback. Feel free to collaborate with others or provide feedback through your peak body. 

The finalised SPA and RP criteria will be published in the Gazette notice.