AUS Tertiary Update

New National President for AUS
University of Canterbury academic Maureen Montgomery will be the next National President of the Association of University Staff following an election for the position which closed last Friday. Dr Montgomery, an associate professor in American Studies, received 1506 votes against 938 received by Dr David Small, a senior lecturer in Education, also from the University of Canterbury.
In another ballot for AUS National Officers, Dr Grant Duncan, a senior lecturer in Public Policy from Massey University’s Albany campus, was elected the AUS Academic Vice-President, collecting 590 votes against 577 for Dr Craig Marshall from the University of Otago. Grant Duncan is a former National President of AUS.
Other national officers elected for 2008 include Cate Wartho from the University of Otago who will continue as the General Staff Vice-President, Fiona Te Momo from Massey University, Albany, who is the Māori Vice-President, Lynley Tulloch from Waikato University who takes on the role of Women’s Vice-President and Helen Kissell, from the University of Canterbury, who will become the Library Vice-President.
Associate Professor Montgomery said that she is honoured to have been elected to the top AUS role, having been an active member of AUS since taking up an academic position at Canterbury in 1986. She has been on the AUS national Council for a number of years, has been both the national Women’s and Academic Vice-Presidents and has served on the Branch Committee for a number of years, including three as Branch President.
After spending the last six years on the AUS Council, Associate Professor Montgomery says she is well equipped for the position of National President. “The last few years have seen a transformation of the AUS with the development of national bargaining, the Tripartite Forum and amalgamation discussions,” she said. “I have been involved in the decision-making that led to this positive transformation. I understand these initiatives and will ensure their continued success.”
Associate Professor Montgomery will take over from Professor Nigel Haworth as AUS National President on 1 January 2008.

Also in Tertiary Update this week
1. Maharey takes top Massey job - you may have read it here first
2. $94m salary cost increase indefensible, says National
3. Wananga heads back to financial viability
4. Teaching excellence boosted with launch of Ako Aotearoa
5. Student debt closes in on $9.4 billion
6. Policy changes to attract more international students
7. Global look at higher education
8. A call to defend academic freedom
9. Lecturers to receive over £1million back pay
10. Australian universities fail specialist test
11. University President pulls web profile

Maharey takes top Massey job - you may have read it here first
Speculation, first reported by Tertiary Update in early July, that the Minister of Education and former senior lecturer in Sociology, Steve Maharey, was a leading contender to take up the vice-chancellorship of Massey was confirmed last Friday with the announcement that he will take over the helm of his old University. Although the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Judith Kinnear, will retire in March, it is not known exactly when Mr Maharey will leave Parliament and take up the position, largely because it is understood he does not want to create the need for a by-election in his Palmerston North seat prior to a General Election, due later in the year.
Confirmation of Mr Maharey’s appointment as Massey University Vice-Chancellor appears to have pleased many within the sector, with the Association of University Staff saying that, as a former minister responsible for tertiary education, he is ideally placed to lead one of New Zealand’s major universities.
AUS National President, Professor Nigel Haworth, said that Mr Maharey was responsible for the initiation of many of the current tertiary education reforms, particularly around the need for collaboration across institutions in the sector, and in relation to the distinctive contribution made by the different types of institutions. “Mr Maharey's contribution will be of immense benefit to the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, particularly in relation to governance reform, increased funding and greater cooperation between institutions,” he said. “He will add real value to the tripartite process and we also look forward to him showing strong support for multi-employer collective employment agreements within the sector.”

Similarly, Massey University students have reacted “enthusiastically” to the news that the top job at Massey has gone to Mr Maharey. Massey University Students’ Association President Paul Falloon says the decision was a wise one. “I’m excited that Steve is stepping in at a time when Massey needs a strong leader and someone who is willing to act in the interests of students, staff and other stakeholders,” he said. “I think Steve has already demonstrated that he has a genuine passion for Massey, and I’m hopeful this passion will mean a Vice Chancellor who will prioritise student welfare and world-class education and research above purely commercial considerations”.

$94m salary cost increase indefensible, says National
The National Party says a $94 million increases in the cost of salaries at the Ministry of Education is indefensible and it wants the Government to explain why Ministry pay packets have jumped by 154 percent since 2002 while staff numbers have risen by only 450, or 16 percent.
Figures released to the Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show $155 million was paid to 3348 ministry staff in 2006-07, up from the $61 million paid to 2890 staff in 2002. Since 2000, the number of Ministry staff earning salaries of more than $100,000 has risen dramatically from twenty-seven to 142.
National’s Education spokeswoman, Katherine Rich, said it is a disgrace that Ministry pay packets had surged when cash-strapped schools were falling into deficit and cutting back on learning resources for children. “The Minister has to explain this dramatic blowout in costs. The growth in staff numbers alone is hard to justify over that period,” she said.
The Dominion Post reports the Ministry of Education Human Resources Manager, Donna Hickey, as saying that organisational changes since 2001 had skewed the figures, with the merger of 220 special-education and early-childhood staff having a marked impact on staffing and salaries. “The surge in staff on higher pay was partly due to staff moving to higher salary brackets after annual pay reviews, but also reflected the Ministry's increasingly complex role and the need to offer market-related salary packages to attract senior staff,” she is reported as saying,” she said.
Good news among the information provided to the Dominion Post was that the number and cost of both employment disputes and redundancies have decreased. The number of employment disputes has dropped from seven, at a cost of $88,648, in 2003-04 to two in 2006-07, at a cost of $9,600. While there were ninety redundancies in 2001-02, at a cost of more than $3 million, that number had fallen to four in 2006-07 at a cost of $195,863.
Meanwhile, the 2007 Annual Report of the Ministry of Education can be found at:
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=12300&data=l

Wananga heads back to financial viability
In what may be long overdue good news, the New Zealand Herald reports that Te Wananga o Aotearoa is forecasting a financial surplus this year of between $3 and $4 million. The forecast surplus is a positive turnaround for the institution which had earlier been at loggerheads with the Government over allegations of poor financial management and nepotism culminating in a report from the Auditor-General which raised concerns about accountability and conflicts of interest. A Crown Manager was appointed in late 2005 to oversee financial decision-making.
The Herald reports the Wananga’s Chief Executive, Bentham Ohia, as saying the turnaround showed the institution was shrugging off the past and moving on and adding that the damage done to the institution’s reputation during the furore was bad but not irreparable. “The reputation challenge will continue to be a challenge,” he said. “We will focus on the quality of our programmes, the quality of our learning experiences for our students.”
In 2004, Te Wananga o Aotearoa was the country’s biggest tertiary-education institution, with 60,000 students and receiving $239 million in government funding. This year, it will receive only $120 million in government funding and have a roll of 40,000 students.
Mr Ohia says that plans are under way to introduce eleven new programmes next year as the institution does not want this year’s projected surplus to be a one-off.
In what the Herald describes as more good news for Mr Ohia, the Wananga Council has voted unanimously to give him a new five-year employment agreement.
The Crown Manager, Brian Roche, is due to leave the institution at the end of the year.

Teaching excellence boosted with launch of Ako Aotearoa
Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand’s first Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, will be officially launched next Thursday at Massey University’s Wellington campus by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen. Ako Aotearoa is part of a $20 million government initiative to boost the quality of teaching in all branches of the post-school education sector.
A consortium of institutions, headed by Massey University and including AUT University, the University of Canterbury, Christchurch College of Education, UCOL, and Manukau Institute of Technology, won the contract to establish the Centre last year. It comprises a national centre at Massey Wellington and regional hubs in Christchurch, Palmerston North and Auckland.
Ako Aotearoa Director, Peter Coolbear, says the cross-sector approach will include all tertiary teaching and training at universities, polytechnics, wananga, private training businesses, in workplaces and in the community. “Good teaching is often hidden,” he said. “Ako Aotearoa aims to get good teaching out of the closet and grow New Zealand’s educational capability.”
Next week’s launch appears to be the second, after a powhiri and blessing in July. The next launch will be followed by a public lecture by Dr Coolbear on fostering the best possible educational outcomes for learners in New Zealand’s tertiary-education sector.

Student debt closes in on $9.4 billion
As total student debt in New Zealand closes in on $9.4 billion, the Annual Report of the Department of Inland Revenue (IRD) shows that more students are borrowing money and fewer are paying off their loans. A New Zealand Press Association story says the IRD report shows that total student debt grew from $7.4 billion to $8.4 billion during 2006-07. About 11,950 students paid off their loans this year compared with 16,287 the previous year and, as at 30 June 2007, there were 499,259 students with loans compared with 470,507 the previous year. The median value of a student loan was $11,097 in 2006-07 compared with $10,652 the previous year.

Policy changes to attract more international students
From late November, international students will be able to stay in New Zealand for up to twelve months, instead of six, on a job-search permit while they look for skilled work. Under new policy, announced yesterday by Minister of Immigration David Cunliffe, international students will find it easier to work in New Zealand and remain here as permanent migrants.
Announcing the new policy, Mr Cunliffe said that there is increasing competition for skilled graduates and the country needs to allow international students enough time to find a job in their area of expertise here in New Zealand and not run the risk that they will go elsewhere. Current graduates on a six-month permit will be given an extra six months.
“It is important that we facilitate residence for qualified international graduates who have experience of living here while they study. In many cases, these are precisely the type of skilled workers we need in New Zealand,” Mr Cunliffe said. “These changes set out an easier pathway for students to gain residence. I will also be releasing details next month of the Skilled Migrant Category policy changes that I announced earlier this year. This will include a refined definition of skilled employment and some adjustments to the recognition of qualifications at the lower end of the quality scale. This will ensure that our skilled residence policies focus on those migrants with an appropriate level of skill and expertise.”
Mr Cunliffe also said that a significant number of international students are choosing to keep their skills in New Zealand once they have finished their studies. Research has found 27 percent of all international students who began study between 1999 and 2001 gained residence or stayed in New Zealand to work.

Worldwatch
Global look at higher education
In what has been described as a world-first development, a team of more than thirty higher-education journalists based in twenty-five countries around the globe, including New Zealand, have joined to produce a free weekly online newspaper, University World News.
University World News is the first high-quality international newspaper dedicated to providing coverage of all the key aspects of higher education and will be distributed to higher-education institutions, research organisations and government departments on every continent except, apparently, Antarctica.
Managing Director of University World News, Diane Spencer, said the free-to-subscribe paper is being published at a time when international competition and collaboration between universities is growing apace. “It has never been more important for higher-education managers, researchers, scholars and government officials to keep abreast of developments in the increasingly globalised world of universities, and in their rival and partner institutions worldwide,” she said. “University World News is committed to providing such coverage.”
The online newspaper will be published every Monday and will provide exclusive reports from its correspondents around the world as well as analyses, features, global round-ups on key issues and links to higher education stories from other leading newspapers.
The University World News website will also offer information on grants and higher-education research, news from tertiary organisations, employment opportunities and other developments as well as featuring myriad links to higher-education organisations and bodies worldwide.
University World News can be found at:
www.unversityworldnews.com

A call to defend academic freedom
Saying that they are fed up with an “aggressive incursion of partisan politics into universities’ hiring and tenure practices,” five prominent academics in the United States have issued a call to “defend the university” and gathered dozens of backers in what they view as a new way to bolster academic freedom.
The Ad Hoc Committee to Defend the University has issued a statement and is asking professors and others to sign on. The statement says that, in recent years, universities across the US have been targeted by outside groups seeking to influence what is taught and who can teach. They say that, to achieve their political agendas, these groups have defamed scholars, pressured administrators and tried to bypass or subvert established procedures of academic governance. As a consequence, faculty have been denied jobs or tenure and scholars have been denied public platforms from which to share their viewpoints. The Committee says this violates an important principle of scholarship, the free exchange of ideas, subjecting them to ideological and political tests. These attacks threaten academic freedom and the core mission of institutions of higher education in a democratic society.
The organisers of the Committee are Joan W. Scott, a professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and former Chair of the American Association of University Professors’ Committee on Academic Freedom, Jeremy Adelman, Chair of History at Princeton University, Steve Caton, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, Edmund Burke III, Director of the Center for World History at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Jonathan R. Cole, Provost Emeritus of Columbia University.
More information can be found at:
http://defend.university.googlepages.com/home
From Inside Higher Education

Lecturers to receive over £1million back pay
Twenty-two Northern Ireland lecturers have each been awarded back pay of between £8,000 and £22,000 after an industrial tribunal ruled that they had been wrongly underpaid for five years. Around seventy others who were not properly paid are likely also to receive payments expected to take the total payout to over £1.6 million. The University and College Union (UCU) says that several further-education colleges failed to place newly appointed lecturers on the appropriate point of a new salary scale.
The UCU official for Northern Ireland, Jim McKeown, said that college employers were told repeatedly they were wrong in not paying proper salaries from September 2001. After failing to remedy the problem, the case was taken on behalf of the twenty-two staff.
Mr McKeown said that the UCU is using the Freedom of Information Act to find out how much the employers spent on legal costs defending the action and added that they had spent public funds trying to defend the indefensible. “Their actions were completely wrong,” he said, “yet it is the taxpayers who foot the bill. The real culprits in this affair have escaped scot-free.”

Australian universities fail specialist test
Australia does not have one world-class “specialist” university, according to a report on the nation’s tertiary institutions. Despite the nation’s lack of a specialist university, however, the Australian National University (ANU), with its focus on science and humanities, was ranked as the best in that country by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.
The ANU edged out Melbourne University in the latest rankings of the country’s public institutions and their international standing, which for the first time takes into account university specialisation.
The author of the study, Ross Williams of the University of Melbourne, said that, apart from ANU’s move to the top, there were no significant changes to the rankings when university specialisation was taken into account. “We have institutions that are more specialised than the others, but they don’t shoot up terribly in the rankings,” he said. “This finding reflects the fact that Australia does not possess outstanding specialist institutions such as the London School of Economics, the Swiss Federal Institute of Science and the Indian Institute for Science. We don't have any institutions in Australia that are specialised and world-class.”
From The Australian

University President pulls web profile
The President of Salisbury University in the United States has removed her Facebook profile after being questioned about apparently unprofessional captions posted alongside photos on the web page.
Janet Dudley-Eshbach had a photo on her profile showing her pointing a stick toward her daughter and a Hispanic man with a caption saying she had to “beat off Mexicans because they were constantly flirting with my daughter”. A caption accompanying a photo of a tapir referred to the large size of the pig-like animal’s genitalia.
Dudley-Eshbach removed her profile from the social networking website hours after reporters asked her about the captions. While she did not return calls from the media, she issued a statement apologising and saying that she was learning about the positives and negatives of public networking sites such as Facebook.
From Associated Press

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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

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