Tertiary Education Choices in New Zealand: A Pluralistic Investigation

Abstract

Most policy regarding tertiary training choice is based on the presumption that human capital theory is the most appropriate model and the cost-benefit analysis implicit in that model provides a reasonable approximation of the choice parameters included in any decision to study. This has certainly been the approach that underlies the significant changes in the New Zealand tertiary sector in the last twenty years. Unfortunately it has failed to explain the observed enrolment trends. This study starts from that point and discusses the various shortcomings in this approach and relates these to solutions provided in the behavioural literature found in other areas of economics or in other behavioural sciences. Through this a pluralistic methodological approach is chosen that can be used to supplement the more traditional human capital model by the inclusion of behavioural variables. It does so through the collection of primary data that specifically addresses human capital, behavioural and expectation variables.