Teaching quality must not suffer under PBRF

Teaching quality must not suffer under performance based research funding

The New Zealand University Students’ Association (NZUSA) is calling on the government to re-invest in public tertiary education to ensure that the quality of teaching does not suffer as a result of the introduction of performance based research funding (PBRF).

“It is important to encourage excellence in research, but this must not come at the expense of high quality teaching in our public tertiary institutions,” said Fleur Fitzsimons NZUSA Co-President.

“Staff are already over-worked and under-paid. PBRF has the potential to add more stress to busy staff and make it even more difficult for them to focus on teaching students,” said Fitzsimons “The government needs to re-invest in tertiary education to ensure that all public tertiary institutions in New Zealand are world class.”

Students are also concerned that the ranking of tertiary institutions will lead to more competition and increased student fees.

“We have already seen the devastating effects of competition and the market model in tertiary education - thousands of dollars wasted on marketing and promotion that should be spent on reducing student fees and paying staff more.”

“Students cannot afford to face further fee increases and more student debt in an attempt to improve research rankings. Increased funding must come from the government,” said Fitzsimons.

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