Tertiary education to be more industry-led?
The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Cullen, told guests at a breakfast meeting at the Hamilton Club this morning that it
is now time to shift the balance of our tertiary education system towards a more explicit industry-led approach. Dr
Cullen’s speech concentrated on the importance of tertiary education as a part of the larger process of producing an
adult population with skills relevant to the New Zealand economy and communities.
“The tertiary education system is one of the key engines of workforce productivity, and hence of economic growth,” he
said. “We have a system that is in many respects world-class, with world-class researchers and world-class teachers. But
we need to be able to ask ourselves how well-focused these resources are.”
Dr Cullen said that while the system was geared towards drawing a greater proportion of New Zealanders into tertiary
education, it is not clear they acquired relevant skills as a result, and added that it may be time to get industry more
closely involved in the tertiary education system. “This kind of engagement between tertiary institutions should be a
standard part of their business, to assist them in identifying the skill needs; ensuring that qualifications match the
competencies businesses want; and helping them in the monitoring of quality,” he said.
“We also need to be able to link tertiary research to the priorities of our key industries,” said Dr Cullen. “The recent
analysis for the Performance-Based Research Fund showed that New Zealand academics are world-class in areas such as
philosophy and criminology; but we need to be able to ensure that we are world-class in biotechnology and the other
disciplines that, in the medium to long-term, will pay the bills.”
Association of University Staff spokesperson Marty Braithwaite cautioned against any move to increase the influence of
industry or business in tertiary education, saying that the market-driven approach had previously failed both students
and the economy. “The current skills’ shortage in New Zealand is a direct result of the failure of industry and business
to maintain adequate skills-based training, and to plan and prepare for the future needs of the economy,” he said.
“Dismantling the traditional apprenticeship system was a clear example of how the narrow agenda of industry was
inconsistent with the broader interests of New Zealand. The Government appears to be ignoring the social benefit and
broader value of education, and seems intent that tertiary education will be little more than vocational training.”
Mr. Braithwaite said it was important for Government to invest in all academic disciplines, not just those which Dr
Cullen referred to as paying the bills.
Also in Tertiary Update this week . . .
1. HRC to investigate gender bias claim
2. New rules for community education
3. Working parties, White Paper on funding and salaries
4. Students gear up on fees campaign
5. UK university staff set for new union
6. Researchers failing to disclose conflicts of interests
HRC to investigate gender bias claim
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) is to investigate a claim by a University of Canterbury senior lecturer, Sue Newberry,
of gender bias in the University’s promotion process. Dr Newbery laid a complaint with the Commission after experiencing
difficulties when attempting to remedy a long-standing problem over her academic placement, and felt bullied and
subjected to intimidation when trying to address the issue with University management.
The HRC has agreed to pursue Dr Newberry’s complaint, which means that the University will be asked to respond formally
to the allegations and attempt mediation.
An HRC report, released last month, shows that women at Canterbury are the worst represented of any New Zealand
university in top academic positions. The New Zealand Census of Women’s Participation in Governance and Professional
Life shows Canterbury has two women (3.33 percent) out of a total of sixty professors, and four women (5.47 per cent)
out of seventy-three associate professors. Nationally, 15.65 percent of professors and 15.97 percent of associate
professors at the eight universities are women. Around 40 percent of all academic staff are women.
Dr Newberry says that the problems at Canterbury are broad, and since she first raised the issue she had been approached
by other women in a similar position. She said she believed the University needed to acknowledge the inherent biases in
the system and set processes in place to rectify them before things would improve.
The AUS University of Canterbury Branch says it has received feedback from a number of women who have indicated similar
experiences and concerns relating to applications for promotion, and is calling a meeting of academic women staff to
discuss and clarify the nature and extent of the problem. It is hoped that a set of recommendations for changes to the
promotions policy and process will come out of the meeting. The Branch will then table these for discussion with the
Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Equity and Diversity.
New rules for community education
Government funding for enrolments in community education will be cut by 30 percent in 2005, and a further 30 percent in
2006, on enrolment numbers averaged between 2002 and 2004, according to new rules released yesterday by the Tertiary
Education Commission (TEC). The cuts come after concerns were raised about the level of uncontrolled growth in community
education (funding classification 5.1) which was uncapped as a part of the 1998 Budget. This year’s Budget reintroduced
a cap on the number of enrolments in community education and reduced the funding rate from $5,707 per equivalent
full-time student in 2004 to $5,000 in 2005.
Acting Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary), Margaret Wilson, said that the cap would allow 43,500 equivalent
full-time students to be funded over the 2004-2006 period, and that these would be allocated by the TEC as part of its
process of negotiating funding profiles with tertiary education institutions this year.
“Following recent growth, we need to get back to basics with community education,” said Ms Wilson. “We want to bring
community education delivered in tertiary education institutions more into line with other forms of Adult and Community
Education.”
Ms Wilson said the Government had agreed on five priorities which the TEC would use in deciding whether or not to fund
particular programmes. They are: targeting learners whose initial learning was unsuccessful; raising foundation skills;
strengthening communities by meeting community needs; encouraging lifelong learning; and strengthening social cohesion.
Working parties, White Paper on funding and salaries
University unions and employers are to meet soon to convene working parties following the settlement of new collective
employment agreements across the sector. As part of the enterprise settlements at the seven universities, it was agreed
to convene two working parties, one to look at the “future shape” of bargaining in the sector, and the other to develop
a “White Paper” on funding and salaries to inform joint lobbying of Government.
A small working party, including AUS representatives Nigel Haworth, Helen Kelly and Jeff Rowe, will analyse and report
on various bargaining options. It will consider the likely impact on salaries and conditions of various types of
employment agreement, including multi-employer, multi union collective agreements. It will examine the potential each
type of employment agreement has to enhance possibilities of government funding, and will also look at their effect on
university autonomy and the unique characteristics of each university. The working party is expected to report by 31
October.
The AUS representatives on the other working party will be Bill Rosenberg, the current AUS National President, Jeff Rowe
and Helen Kelly. The White Paper is expected to develop a detailed case for overall university funding and funding of
salary increases which can be used for both lobbying and bargaining purposes.
A tripartite meeting of Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary) Steve Maharey, the vice-chancellors and the
university unions is expected to be scheduled for August when Mr Maharey returns from leave. The meeting will discuss
issues facing the sector, and Mr Maharey has advised that he has already written to the employers exploring possible
dates.
Students gear-up on fees campaign
The fight to stop tuition fee increases at public tertiary education institutions came a step closer as students at the
New Zealand University Students’ Association (NZUSA) conference last weekend met to plan their campaign for fee
reductions in 2005.
The student representatives also discussed a campaign to achieve a living allowance for all students, stabilising
international student tuition fees and challenging the privatisation of the New Zealand tertiary education system.
NZUSA Co-President, Fleur Fitzsimons, said that many of the tertiary institutions now had huge surpluses and should be
reducing fees. “We saw widespread protest action against fee increases last year. Tertiary institutions, councils and
the Government can expect to feel the heat from angry students again this year if fees go up,” she said.
Auckland University Students’ Association President and conference Organiser, Kate Sutton, said that while the
Government had increased access to allowances in the Budget, many students were still being forced to borrow in order to
live. “We will not give up the fight for living allowances until all students are entitled to a living allowance to
cover their basic cost of living,” she said.
Worldwatch
UK university staff set for new union
Two unions, the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher
Education (NATFHE), met last week to begin detailed work with the intention of creating a single new union to represent
union members in higher and further education in the United Kingdom. The new union will bring together AUT’s members in
the old universities and NATFHE’s members in the new universities and colleges.
Initial proposals for the new union will be put to the national executive committees of the two unions in October, with
firm proposals to be put to the conferences of the respective unions early next year. If the proposals are agreed,
members would be asked to dissolve their current organisations and create a new union of over 100,000 members.
Researchers failing to disclose conflicts of interests
A significant number of researchers are not complying with leading journals’ requirements that they disclose financial
ties that could lead to bias, according to a report released in the United States this week by the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, a watchdog group.
Using publicly available information, the report’s author looked at the financial ties of authors of original research
articles that appeared between December 2003 and February 2004 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of
The American Medical Association, Environmental Health Perspectives and Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. Out of 163
studies the author found thirteen papers where readers were not informed of financial ties that they considered relevant
to the studies.
The Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine has disputed the findings, saying that of forty-two articles analysed
from that journal, only two were cited as having unreported financial conflicts of interests. The Editor said both links
were weak enough that they did not need to be reported.
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AUS Tertiary Update is compiled weekly on Thursdays and distributed freely to members of the Association of University
Staff and others. Back issues are available on the AUS website: www.aus.ac.nz . Direct enquires should be made to Marty
Braithwaite, AUS Communications Officer, email: marty.braithwaite@aus.ac.nz