Conflict of Interest Statutory Declaration

Under the Education Amendment Act 2011 (section 46(1)(a)(i)), all private training establishments (PTEs) are required to provide NZQA with a statutory declaration from each governing member of the establishment that discloses:

• Any material conflicts of interest
• Any interests in organisations in the education or immigration sector that provide goods or services to tertiary students.

To meet this requirement, every governing member must submit a Conflict of Interest Statutory Declaration (PDF, 35KB) form to NZQA by 29 February 2012.

It is a condition* of PTE registration that:

• existing governing members keep their Conflict of Interest Statutory Declaration up to date, and
• any new governing member submits their Conflict of Interest Statutory Declaration before commencing as a governing member of the establishment.

*Education Act 1989 section 233B(3)

What is a conflict of interest/an interest?

Governing members should disclose where they, or a close relative, have an interest in a transaction that is not aligned with the PTE’s interest (i.e you or a relative have an involvement in a transaction that might disadvantage the PTE that you also have an interest in, or benefit you or your close relative). This is likely to be a situation where a material conflict exists between the governing member’s own interests and that of the PTE.

Governing members must disclose any interest they have in organisations in the education or immigration sector that provide goods or services to tertiary students. The reason for this lower disclosure threshold is the likelihood of a conflict of interest in this situation between the governing member/PTE and the interests of students.

Examples of situations where interests must be disclosed include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The governing member has loaned money to the PTE
• A close relative of the governing member has entered into a significant contract with the PTE
• A company owned by the governing member is the PTE’s landlord
• The governing member is a shareholder or director in an immigration consultancy that offers immigration services to prospective students of the PTE.

NZQA will evaluate each declaration on a case-by-case basis. If they are uncertain whether their position could be considered a conflict of interest, governing members are advised to take a conservative approach and make a disclosure.

A set of questions and answers (PDF, 36KB) is available with more information about this requirement (also includes information on the Student Information Attestation).