AUS Tertiary Update Vol.4 No.1
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AUS
Tertiary Update Vol. 4 No. 1, 8 February
2001
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In
our lead story this week…..
WE’RE BACK!
“Tertiary
Update” welcomes all AUS members and other readers to a new
year, and one that will be a watershed one for universities
in New Zealand, and for tertiary education in general. It
is this year that we will see the effects of the
Government’s (“Have we got a deal for you!”) 2.3% increase
in tuition subsidies in return for a freeze on tuition fees.
That equates to an average funding increase of around 1.6%
-- all well and good, until we take in to account inflation
last year of 4%, and the fact that the figure is unlikely to
drop below 3% in the current year.
As a result, AUS has
begun a significant lobbying campaign for increased funding,
and we are pleased to note that the New Zealand
Vice-Chancellors’ Committee has embarked on a similar
initiative. The initial AUS lobbying document,
“Universities: Foundation of the Knowledge Society” can be
downloaded in pdf format from the AUS website:
www.aus.ac.nz.
Also in Tertiary Update this week (and
yes, it’s a long one as we catch up on all the news!):
1.
TEAC report delayed
2. Focus remains on students
3.
Fees do put students off
4. New NZQA Chief Executive
named
5. New Council appointments
6. Polytechs discuss
collective negotiations
7. Request for info
8. Big
cash injection for higher education in Australia
9. Staff
crisis looms in UK……..
10. ……And Canada acts to stop the
gap
TEAC REPORT DELAYED
The release of the second
report by the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission (TEAC)
-- which focuses on the overall shape of the sector -- has
been delayed until early March. A draft report was presented
to Associate Minister, Steve Maharey just before Christmas
and “Tertiary Update” understands that its contents have
been the subject of discussion between the coalition
government partners. The only indication to date from the
government on its views on the shape of the sector has been
the confirmation by the Minister of Research, Science and
Technology, Pete Hodgson that the Government will retain
distinct colleges of education for the foreseeable
future.
The delay in releasing the second report makes it
inevitable that the remaining 3 reports scheduled for 2001
will also be delayed. They cover collaboration and
co-operation (due March 2001), relevant courses and learning
opportunities (due June 2001), and funding learning and
research (due September 2001). This could pose problems for
the development of the Government’s budget for tertiary
education in 2002 and is a matter of real concern to
AUS.
FOCUS REMAINS ON STUDENTS
Recent announcements by
leading Alliance politicians show that the Alliance remains
fixated on the problem of student debt, to the detriment of
major underlying infrastructure and staff problems that need
to be tackled (see “World Watch” below for information on
the latter).
In a speech to the Conference of the New
Zealand University Students Association (NZUSA) last week,
the Alliance education spokesperson Dr. Liz Gordon made it
clear the party remained committed to its long-term policy
of free, high quality and accessible tertiary education, but
recognised that achieving that goal in the current term of
government was impossible. She therefore identified
priority areas for action, including reinstating the
emergency unemployment benefit for students over the summer
break and the universal student allowance; mitigating the
worst effects of the student loan system by freezing
interest rates, changing the way any interest rate is set,
and reducing the penalty effect of compound interest on
repayments; and introducing incentives to encourage
professionals to remain in New Zealand and work after
graduation.
AUS supports the calls by the Alliance to
"repair" and "rebuild" the tertiary education sector after a
decade of market model excess, persistent underfunding, and
growing student debt. But as the National President, Neville
Blampied pointed out to the Select Committee Inquiry into
Tertiary Education Resourcing last week, to see focus solely
on student debt, student support, and participation is to
pass over the most critical aspects of the crisis facing
universities. "No matter how much is spent on easing the
burden of student loans and on student allowances, this
makes little or no difference to the funding problems of
universities", he said. "Government funding for student
loans and allowances does not directly pay for a single book
or journal for a university library, a single computer for
internet access, a single hour of lectures, or so much as a
gram of material for a science lab.” Mr Blampied told the
committee that New Zealand should immediately follow the
lead of Australia, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, the
USA and others and reinvest directly in higher
education.
FEES DO PUT STUDENTS OFF
The New Zealand
University Students’ Association (NZUSA) is calling on the
government to abolish tuition fees at all tertiary education
institutions in the light of big increases in enrolments at
the Southland Institute of Technology (SIT) in response to
its “no tuition fees” scheme. The Institute set up a
community trust to provide scholarships for its students,
and as a result, around 3,000 additional students have
sought places at SIT. NZUSA says the level of enrolments is
solid proof that fees are a significant barrier to tertiary
education, and should be abolished.
NEW NZQA CHIEF
EXECUTIVE NAMED
Dr Andrew West has been appointed the new
Chief Executive of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
He is currently Chief Executive of the Crown Research
Institute, Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS). He
replaces Dr Norman Kingsbury.
NEW COUNCIL APPPOINTMENTS
The government has announced new appointments to
university councils to replace resigning and retiring
members. The new members are: Greg Taylor (Auckland);
Trisha McEwan (Waikato); Shaan Winiata Stevens (Victoria);
Sir Angus Tait (Canterbury); John Simpson (Canterbury); and
Dr Sue Bagshaw (Canterbury). Ella Henry, who is director of
the Maori Indigenous Research and Development Unit at
Auckland University has been appointed to the Northland
Polytechnic Council.
POLYTECHS DISCUSS COLLECTIVE
NEGOTIATIONS
Representatives from the country’s 12
Polytechnics are meeting today in Wellington to discuss with
the union representing academic staff a process for
multi-employer collective agreement negotiations. The
meeting follows a vote late last year by members of the
Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE) in support
of collective employment agreements across the sector.
REQUEST FOR INFO
The Association of Commonwealth
Universities is setting up an Internet bulletin containing
information of interest to academics wanting to work
overseas and wants contributions from academics around the
world. Jocelyn Law would like to get in touch with
academics to hear of their first-hand experiences of the
countries they work in. She is interested in hearing from
anyone from abroad working in New Zealand or from New
Zealanders who have worked at overseas universities in the
recent past. You can contact her by e-mail. The address is:
j.law@acu.ac.uk.
WORLD WATCH
BIG CASH INJECTION FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
The Australian prime
minister, John Howard has announced the government will put
aside A$3 bn. to increase enrolments in the tertiary sector
and improve research and development. A$543.6m. will be
allocated to establishing a loan programme for 250,000
graduate students, and a further A$81.5m. to create 21,000
new undergraduate places over the next five years. Support
for the Australian Research Council, currently standing at
A$240m. a year, will be doubled. Tax write-offs for
companies undertaking R & D is being raised from 125% on the
amount they spend to 175%.
The National Tertiary
Education Union (NTEU) has welcomed the funding injection.
However, it says Mr. Howard's statement did not deal with
the fundamental resourcing problem facing Australian
universities, including soaring student/staff ratios, and
the reliance on full fee paying student income.
Mr
Howard’s announcement followed a promise last week by the
leader of the Australian Labour Party, Kim Beazley, that if
he won this year's federal election, his government would
establish Australia's first online university, to enrol
100,000 students over the next 10 years.
STAFF CRISIS
LOOMS IN UK
British MPs have been warned that “sticking
plaster" increases in higher education funding will do
nothing to stop a looming crisis in staff recruitment in the
country’s universities. Sir Michael Bett -- who produced a
1999 report into academic pay, told an education select
committee that poor academic pay, coupled with student debt
problems, was turning today's graduates away from a career
as a lecturer, just when they were needed to plug the hole
left by an exodus of lecturers due to retire in 2005. Sir
Michael -- who was giving evidence to the committee as part
of its higher education inquiry into student dropout rates
-- said that student support was a subsidiary issue to that
of maintaining quality. "It is no good supporting students
in a second-rate system", he said. Committee members also
heard that too much emphasis and money were directed at
research and too little at teaching. MPs were told this had
an impact on academic workloads, as young lecturers
struggled to meet onerous teaching demands, while doing
research that could bring millions of pounds in grants to
their departments through the research assessment exercise.
AND CANADA ACTS TO STOP THE GAP
The Ontario
Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has
held a major public policy conference to discuss a looming
faculty shortage crisis in Canadian universities (see
“Tertiary Update”, Vol 3, No. 40). Ontario, which is
Canada’s largest province, projects that its universities
will need to hire between 13,000 and 15,000 faculty staff
during the current decade to cope with increased enrolments,
and replacement of retiring staff. Meanwhile, Quebec
province is to waive provincial income tax for academics in
certain disciplines who move to Quebec to teach. The offer
applies to academics who are recruited from outside Canada,
have a doctorate and work in the fields of health,
engineering and science, finance or mathematics. It is hoped
that the programme will be extended to the humanities in the
near
future.
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AUS
Tertiary Update is produced weekly on Thursdays and
distributed freely to members of the union and others. Back
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