Yesterday Steven Joyce, the minister of tertiary education said that he was "acutely aware of how important better educational outcomes for our young people are to strengthening our economy for the future" but then went on to say "it is highly unlikely that there will be any significant cash injections in the foreseeable future," Today Mr Joyce the minister of transport lauded his government's investment of $10 billion dollars of new spending over ten years into roads.

TEU national President Dr Tom Ryan says this disparity of investment is perplexing. "Last year the government cut over $100 million of direct funding to tertiary institutions and there is no indication that this money will be returned," said Dr Ryan.

"It's for someone else to say whether a bit of tarmac is going to promote productivity and deal with the pay differential between NZ and Australia as successfully as investing in our world class tertiary education system."

"I do wonder how the minister of tertiary education and of transport can tell one audience there is no money and everyone needs to tighten their belts, and another audience that he is committed to investing to enhance national economic growth and productivity, and then actually only directing resources in one direction," said Dr Ryan.