Three NZ universities in top 200
Three New Zealand universities, Auckland, Otago and Canterbury, have been listed among the world’s top 200 universities
in the latest series of international university rankings, but it is not all good news. Although the University of
Auckland has maintained its place as New Zealand’s top university in the Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli
Symonds Ltd (THES-QS) Rankings, it has fallen to fiftieth spot, down from forty-sixth last year. Similarly, Otago is now
ranked at number 114, down from seventy-ninth position last year. Canterbury, by contrast, has increased its position,
up from 333 last year to 188 this year.
Three other New Zealand universities are in the World’s top 400, but their identities are yet to be published.
The THES-QS World University Rankings are based on a series of measures including peer review, recruiter review,
international-faculty ratio, international-students ratio, student-faculty ratio and citations per faculty.
The world’s top ten universities are from the United Kingdom or the United States, with Harvard maintaining its ranking
as the top university overall for the fourth year in succession. Cambridge, Oxford and Yale universities all tied for
second place, with Imperial College London, Princeton University, the California Institute of Technology, the University
of Chicago, University College London and the Massachusetts Institute of technology rounding out the top ten. The
leading Australian institution was the Australian National University in sixteenth place.
Responding to the release of the rankings, University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, said
that, assessed against the world’s best, he is very pleased to have maintained the position in the top fifty. “This
ranking is a tribute to the quality and commitment of all our staff,” he said. “The University of Auckland was also
first among New Zealand universities in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings released earlier this year.”
The University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor, Professor Roy Sharp, is reported as saying that, while he did not
personally agree with the idea of rankings, he was pleased Canterbury had made it into the top 200. “Other people take
them seriously which is important when recruiting staff and students,” he said.
The THES-QS rankings can be found at:
http://www.topuniversities.com/
Also in Tertiary Update this week
1. New university-type proposed
2. Fine Arts students turn backs on vice-chancellor
3. Debt no barrier to more study, says report
4. Labour punishes high performers, says National
5. Otago fees up by an average 4 percent
6. Survey reveals concerns about direction of universities
7. Labor expected to kill off RQF
8. More university bosses make millionaires’ club
9. Fooling no-one
New university type proposed
Legislation aimed at establishing a new type of tertiary-education institution, a university of technology, has been
referred to Parliament’s Education and Science Select Committee for further consideration. The Education (Establishment
of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill, which was passed into its second stage of the legislative process last
week, arose out of New Zealand First Party’s confidence and supply agreement with the Government following the last
General Election. The Bill’s promoters say that the addition of a new category of institution will bridge a significant
legal gap within the current structure of the tertiary-education system while enhancing flexibility and encouraging
differentiation.
New Zealand First Education spokesperson Brian Donnelly said that the Bill recognises the importance of building and
fostering relationships among business, industry and scientific research at a tertiary level. “The establishment of a
non-university class of institution for technology will provide scope to develop workplace skills and knowledge to a
level comparable to overseas education providers,” he said. “In addition, the Bill allows for students to move across
various levels of tertiary education, with delivery of appropriate sub-degree programmes and pathways which allow them
to progress to higher levels of education and training while pursuing their career goals.”
The move to establish universities of technology intensified after a recent but unsuccessful bid by the Auckland
tertiary-education provider, Unitec, to be re-classified as a university. Unitec Chief Executive, Dr John Webster, says
that the current system is unfair, particularly for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those who are
unable to realise their potential at secondary-school level. “This limits our capacity to build the advanced skills and
know-how we need to transform New Zealand’s economy,” he said.
Association of University Staff National President, Professor Nigel Haworth, said, however, that there is no evidence to
support the contention that the establishment of a new type of institution would enhance the current tertiary-education
reforms or provide a better-quality tertiary education. “Moreover, the institution described by Mr. Donnelly is what
most people recognise to be a traditional polytechnic, and a vital component in the New Zealand tertiary system,” he
said.
It is expected that public submissions on the Bill will be considered later next year.
Fine Arts students turn backs on vice-chancellor
Fine Arts students dressed in black and turned their backs on the University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor last Thursday
evening as he spoke at the opening of the Ilam School of Fine Arts 125th anniversary exhibition at the Christchurch Art
Gallery. In what was labelled a silent vigil to mourn the slow death of one of New Zealand’s prestige art schools, more
than one hundred students protested the axing of staff positions at the School and a cut of around one half of its
operational budget.
One full-time permanent position each in the disciplines of painting and sculpture have been “eliminated” as the
University’s College of Arts prepares to face what has been described as a manufactured budget crisis. Both disciplines
have had a traditional establishment of two staff, complemented by visiting artists, but, as positions have become
vacant, they have been cut to part-time or filled by staff on fixed-term arrangements. The School also faces a cut of
$85,000 from its general operating budget for 2008 unless it accepts a significant increase in the number of students.
Student representative Hannah Wilson said that students feared that the University’s moves threatened the quality of the
education being offered at Ilam. “As the longest-established school of Fine Arts in New Zealand and one of the oldest in
the English-speaking world, Ilam has a huge and well-deserved reputation that should be built upon, not threatened by
short-sighted budget cuts,” she said. “We believe the increase in students as suggested by the University would
seriously impact on the ability of staff to provide a quality education. It would also put pressure on the limited space
and practical and human resources, which are extensively used by Fine Arts students.”
Ms Wilson added that Christchurch is well known for the quality and diversity of its arts and she believes that the city
needs a vibrant and high-quality School of Fine Arts in order to maintain this reputation.
Debt no barrier to more study, says report
Student loan debt does not discourage students from future studies, according to a new report published this week by the
Ministry of Education. The unimaginatively titled Does the student loan scheme discourage students from returning to
study? suggests that the burden of a loan does not have a negative effect on students, possibly due to their confidence
in being able to repay the loan on completion of their studies.
Based on the results of a series of analyses, a profile of students returning to study has been created. The profile
says that students who have the highest likelihood of returning to study are those who have an outstanding student loan,
did not complete the qualifications studied previously, undertook degree-level study at universities and studied towards
qualifications in health, education, society and culture rather than management and commerce fields.
This study also suggests that policy decisions are likely to trigger short-term increases in returning behaviour and
that the most affected populations are likely to be those that left tertiary education in the year when the policy
decisions were announced. Furthermore, when both borrowing and educational factors are controlled, the effects of
demographic factors such as ethnicity, age and gender on the returning pathways of students are found to be negligible.
The report was initiated in order to gain an insight into educational pathways and the aspirations of former tertiary
students who return to study and it aims to identify the factors affecting student return. The populations of returning
students over the period from 1997 to 2005 are compared with the populations of non-returning former tertiary students
who had the same opportunity to return. Such comparisons are conducted for students who have returned after having a
break of one to seven years (seven comparison groups).
The study suggests follow-up studies to monitor the returning behaviour in the tertiary-education sector in New Zealand
and the effect of educational policies on individuals’ behaviour.
The report can be found at:
http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz/publications/tertiary_education/15496
Labour punishes high performers, says National
The National Party says that the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) should be rewarding high-performing polytechnics
like the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) rather than cutting its funding. The comments come in the wake of news
last week that nearly half of New Zealand’s polytechnics and institutes of technology face cuts to student numbers and
public funding as the TEC moves to curtail out-of-region competition and stop budget blowouts.
SIT is expected to be the hardest hit of the polytechnics, standing to lose as much as $8 million, or 26 percent, of its
funding, equating to around 1300 students. Much of the expected cuts relates to SIT’s provision of trades training in
Christchurch where it is competing head-to-head with the Christchurch Polytechnic and Institute of Technology (CPIT).
National spokesperson for Tertiary Education, Dr Paul Hutchison, said that SIT had demonstrated innovation, quality and
value for money and should be rewarded, not punished. He added that SIT was invited into Christchurch by the
building-construction and motor-industry training organisations because of quality and price issues.
Dr Hutchison said that the TEC was requiring that polytechnics ask other polytechnics delivering courses in their region
to stop those courses and surrender the associated EFTS in a process known as repatriation. He said that there had been
talk of “threats” that TEC would cut funding if a polytechnic did not “repatriate” EFTS when requested by another
polytechnic.
The new Minister for Tertiary Education, Pete Hodgson, said that the tertiary-education reforms will deliver a
tertiary-education system that better meets the needs of a wider range of stakeholders, including students, business,
iwi and communities. “Institutes of technology and polytechnics have a strong contribution to make to this system by
focusing on and meeting the needs of their regions. This is a key shift for the polytechnic sector that is widely
understood, and I am pleased to see polytechnics adapting their focus to deliver to regional needs,” he said. “Any
proposed funding changes for the Southern Institute of Technology are designed so the Institute can meet the needs of
Southlanders, and this is something both the Tertiary Education Commission and I support.”
Otago fees up by an average 4 percent
Otago has become the latest university to set student-tuition fees for 2008, in this case by an average increase of 4
percent. The Otago Daily Times (ODT) reports that the University’s Council meeting on Tuesday approved the fee rise
after a sometimes sharp-edged debate in which student representatives warned about “dangerous” divisions, including
those over Physiotherapy fees.
Undergraduate tuition fees in Arts, Languages, Teaching, Business and Theology will each increase by 5 percent, while
Law course fees, including honours, will rise 4.3 percent. Health Science courses, including Medicine and Dentistry,
will increase by 2.4 percent. Fees for many taught postgraduate courses have also been increased by 5 percent, including
Arts, Languages, Theology and Business.
The ODT reports that the Council also approved a recommendation that, in addition to an interim Physiotherapy fee
increase, the University should also seek approval from the Tertiary Education Commission to increase the fee by a
further 5 percent, to $5213 per year.
Otago Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Skegg, is reported as saying that Otago and the country’s other universities have
long had to deal with the “inadequate” indexing of actual university costs through Government education funding and,
even with the latest fee rises, the University would not fully catch up with rising costs. “Government increases in
student-related funding for universities were often linked to the consumer price index, but recent studies had shown the
actual cost rises experienced by universities, including staff salary rises, were almost double the CPI figures” he
said.
The proposed undergraduate-student fee rises for next year were widely supported by the Council, but strongly opposed by
the two student representatives, Otago University Students Association President Renee Heal and Finance and Services
Officer, Honor Lanham.
The Council unanimously passed a resolution suggesting that the Students’ Association and the University jointly make an
approach to the Government over “serious underfunding” of the university sector.
Worldwatch
Survey reveals concerns about direction of universities
A survey of nearly 5,000 university staff in the state of Victoria reveals significant concerns about the direction and
quality of universities under the current Australian Government. The survey, conducted by the National Tertiary
Education Union (NTEU), also concluded that government funding for universities is considered by many to be too low,
government interference too high and that Universities seem more focused on gaining income than on student outcomes
NTEU Victorian Division Secretary, Matthew McGowan, said that the Government’s micromanagement of and interference in
the operations of universities has increased dramatically over the period of the Howard Government. “Universities are
now forced to spend inordinate amounts of time and money meeting onerous reporting requirements, and implementing new
requirements in areas such as industrial relations, just to be able to maintain existing inadequate levels of funding,”
he said.
Mr McGowan said that the results of the survey did not come as a surprise. “While staff feel that their universities
provide high-quality research and teaching, they are concerned that a number of developments are putting this at risk,”
he said. “In particular, staff are concerned that reduced funding, growing political interference and increased levels
of corporatism and managerialism are occurring at the expense of focusing on the needs of students, an agenda that has
been driven by the Federal Government.”
A summary of the survey results can be found at
http://www.nteu.org.au/bd/vic/higheredsurvey
Labor expected to kill off RQF
Still in Australia, that country’s peak university body, Universities Australia (UA), the equivalent of the New Zealand
Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, says that the higher-education sector will be relieved if the Howard Government loses this
month’s General Election because the contentious and flawed Research Quality Framework will be cancelled by a Labor
government.
In what has been described as one of the strongest attacks yet on the funding reallocation measure, UA RQF spokesman and
Australian Catholic University Vice-Chancellor Peter Sheehan said that, if the Government goes out, the sector will feel
relieved that the RQF won’t go ahead in its present form. He added that, if the Coalition is returned, it must delay the
RQF assessment phase by one year to early 2009 for submissions and 2010 for funding changes. “To introduce the RQF next
year would be far too premature for the sector, which would be very nervous of that, and in the final run the proper
assessment of quality could be jeopardised,” he said. “The enormous workload, the costs, the lack of principles guiding
the funding allocation all seem to me to say it’s eminently sensible to delay this exercise.”
Education Minister Julie Bishop has so far brushed off university concerns about the timetable, insisting that the RQF
will go ahead as scheduled.
From The Australian
More university bosses make millionaires’ club
The remuneration of university presidents in the United States is reported to be soaring, with the number of
million-dollar pay packages at private institutions nearly doubling from last year and compensation at many public
universities not far behind.
Presidents at twelve private universities received more than $US1 million ($NZ1.32 million) in the 2005-6 year, the most
recent period for which data on private institutions is available. The number is up from seven a year earlier, according
to an annual survey of presidential pay carried out by theChronicle of Higher Education.
The number of private-college presidents earning more than $US500,000 reached eighty-one, up from seventy a year earlier
and just three a decade ago.
The survey also found that the number of public-university presidents making $US700,000 or more rose to eight in
2006-07, up from just two the previous year. The survey did not include the new President of Ohio State University,
whose $US1 million pay package, before bonuses, is probably the highest of any public institution.
Officials at high-paying institutions defend the salaries, saying they result from intense competition to hold on to
talented executives necessary to help build institutional wealth and prestige. They say that running a large university
is increasingly similar to running a corporation.
Meanwhile, the Chronicle has found that, in a survey of 165 public universities, one-third of public-university chiefs
do not have formal, written employment agreements. Several rely solely on letters of appointment, while others want to
keep compensation details away from public scrutiny. Another common reason cited for the lack of written agreements is
that governing boards may prefer that presidents be “at will” employees who serve at the pleasure of boards and can be
easily fired.
Fooling no-one
Academic phonies or, at least, people who think they are, are reported to have started identifying themselves as a sort
of precaution against being exposed as cheats. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a recent workshop at
Columbia University in the United States for young academics who feel like frauds was attended by highly successful
scholars who live in what was described as a creeping fear of being found out.
The impostor syndrome, first identified in 1978, is apparently a cognitive distortion experienced by many academics
preventing them from internalising any sense of accomplishment.
It is reported that the idea quickly struck a chord with scholars from the working class who bristled at the old guard’s
sense of entitlement but found themselves crippled by a stubborn inability to feel the same. Meanwhile, scholars who
came from academic legacies, described as children of the old guard, had feelings of unearned privilege to contend with.
It appears that a person with impostor syndrome typically experiences a cycle of distress when faced with a new task.
Initial self-doubt is followed by perfectionism, procrastination, overwork and anxiety. Then comes success. But with
success comes the discounting of success and the on-set of self-doubt.
Success, the story says, only serves to reinforce the whole cycle.
More international news
More international news can be found on University World News
http://www.universityworldnews.com/
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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