TEC spends up on consultants

AUS Tertiary Update

Volume 10 number 22, 28 June 2007

TEC spends up on consultants

The Tertiary Education Commission has spent more than $13 million on consultants since its inception, with almost $7 million of that amount spent in the 2004-05 financial year alone. In response to a parliamentary question from National Party spokesperson on Tertiary Education, Dr Paul Hutchison, it has been revealed that, in the first three and a half years of its existence, TEC racked up $13,295,739 on consultants, with more to come. Figures for the 2006-07 financial year are not yet available.

Dr Hutchison says he raised questions about the expenditure on consultants following a comment to Parliament’s Education and Science Select Committee by the TEC Executive Director, Janice Shiner, that the organisation was not fit for purpose. He says it is quite extraordinary that, despite a staff of more than 300 and a budget of $347 million per annum, the Commission does not have the competence within its own ranks to carry out the work it was established to do.

Dr Hutchison said that, while he was not surprised at the level of expenditure on consultants, it showed that TEC was not yet capable of implementing the tertiary-education reforms, and that a National government would look for efficiencies and simplify what had become a very complicated process. He added that, after four years in existence, TEC was still adding staff to what was already a huge bureaucracy.

Responding to the parliamentary question from Dr Hutchison, the Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen, said that, in the 2004-05 financial year, a large portion of the spending was on consultants working on information-technology (IT) projects. During those years in particular, considerable work was undertaken by the Tertiary Education Commission on its IT development and infrastructure.

Also in Tertiary Update this week

1. Those with tertiary-education qualifications earn more, says study

2. TEC boss expected to leave next year

3. Supporting the world’s best scholars in NZ

4. Good progress in raising skill levels

5. Cost, rivals force offshore reversal

6. India’s PM says universities dysfunctional

7. Terrorism studies surge

8. Faculty members poised to strike in Pennsylvania

9. Beckham, US university lecturer

Those with tertiary-education qualifications earn more, says study

Those people who complete a tertiary-education qualification earn more than those who do not, and the higher the level of study, the higher the earnings, says a new study published by the Ministry of Education.

The report, Measuring the returns on investment in tertiary education three and five years after study, shows that the earnings of people who used the Student Loan Scheme and who left study between 1997 and 2001 were related to personal, educational and employment-related industry factors commonly found to influence income levels.

The highest income premium was earned by people who had completed a bachelor’s degree, who earned 28 percent more than those who did not complete their bachelor-level studies. The second largest premium earned was among those who completed a level five to seven diploma. This group earned 14 percent more than those who studied towards level five to seven diplomas but did not complete their studies. The premium for completing a postgraduate qualification was lowest because these individuals already earned a premium for their bachelor’s degree.

Study in technical or vocational fields increased the chance of higher earnings, and working in an industry linked to their field of study further enhanced this. A completed bachelor’s degree in a technical or vocational field of study boosted earnings compared to those in generic fields like society and culture.

When comparing the incomes of people who undertook tertiary study without completing a qualification, the predicted earnings of those who studied at bachelor’s level were about 24 percent higher than the predicted earnings of those who studied towards level one to three certificates. People who studied at postgraduate level earned about 30 percent more than individuals who studied at bachelor’s level.

Nor surprisingly, people’s earnings were, on average, significantly higher five years after leaving study than three years after leaving study.

The report can be found at:

http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz/publications/tertiary/measure-return-investment07.html

TEC boss expected to leave next year

Expected to join the exodus of key figures from the tertiary-education bureaucracy is the Tertiary Education Commission Chief Executive Janice Shiner, according to a report in Education Review. The report says that Parliament’s Education and Science Select Committee has been told that Ms Shiner is expected to return to England when her contract expires in the middle of next year rather than seeking another term in charge of the Commission.

Education Review says that the National Party Member of Parliament, Paul Hutchison, broke the news when he asked Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen about the resignation of TEC Chair Russell Marshall, effective at the end of next week, and the likely departure of Janice Shiner next year.

Dr Cullen said he very much doubted he would be able to persuade Shiner to stay on after her contract expired in the middle of next year, though he would get on his knees and beg if he thought that would help.

“I would love it if Janice would stay on as Chief Executive into the indefinite future, but she has both a career and a life in the UK,” he said.

Ms Shiner would not comment on her intentions, telling Education Review that she has every intention of fulfilling her three year term at the TEC, which still has more than a year to run. “I have got lots to do between now and then and I’m just going to get on with it. At this stage, I won’t be making any further comment about what I do after that,” she said.

Before coming to New Zealand, Ms Shiner was Director General of the Lifelong Learning Directorate of Britain’s Department for Education and Skills in London. She had oversight of the Learning and Skills Council, a funding and planning body with a budget of £9 billion ($23.6 billion) and responsibility for allocating funding to more than 1400 tertiary colleges and private providers in England.

Other tertiary-education figures who are about to depart include TEC Chair Russell Marshall and the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee Executive Director, Lindsay Taiaroa. As reported recently, Dave Guerin has taken over from Martin Eadie as Executive Director of the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics New Zealand.

Supporting the world’s best scholars in NZ

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen, has announced that New Zealand is to expand support for the world’s best PhD students to study in this country under the International Doctoral Research Scholarships (NZIDRS) programme. At a function in Parliament yesterday celebrating the achievements of the ninety-five NZIDRS students currently studying in New Zealand, Dr Cullen announced that the living allowance of $18,000 for scholarship recipients will increase to $20,500 in 2008. The scholarship also covers tuition fees, health insurance and book and travel allowances.

The scholarships are awarded for three years to international students for full-time study for a doctoral research degree. The first students enrolled at New Zealand universities in 2005.

Dr Cullen said that New Zealand wanted to attract the world’s brightest and best to help foster the exchange of high-quality ideas and research at the top level of our tertiary institutions. “Attracting the best is important if we are to continue transforming New Zealand into a high-wage, knowledge-based economy,” he said. “The scholarships are designed to attract top international students so we can enhance the reputation and profile of tertiary education and strengthen our research capacity and capability.”

International education is New Zealand’s fourth biggest export industry, earning $2 billion a year in foreign exchange. According to Dr Cullen, the scholarships underline efforts to raise quality in the tertiary sector and enhance our growing international reputation for the excellence of tertiary training here.

Good progress in raising skill levels

Latest training figures for the March quarter, released this week, show a rise in both the number of Modern Apprentices and Industry Trainees which, says the Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen, bodes well for the continued transformation of the New Zealand economy.

As at 31 March 2007, there were 124,035 Industry Trainees, up 3.5 per cent on March 2006, and 9752 Modern Apprentices, up 10.3 per cent on March 2006.

Releasing the figures, Dr Cullen said that it is clear that trade training is in good heart and that’s good news for employers demanding skilled workers. “Trade training is a priority for the Government. That’s why Budget 2007 invests $53 million more over four years to support increased workforce participation in Industry Training,” he said. “This will expand numbers participating each year to 220,000 by 2011. The Government's total investment in the Industry Training Fund will reach $180 million by 2010/11, more than three times more than in 2000.”

Some 3260 Modern Apprentices have now completed their qualifications since the programme was launched as a pilot in 2000. Total annual spending will rise to approximately $50 million by 2009/10.

Worldwatch

Cost, rivals force offshore reversal

Australian universities are reported to be withdrawing “en masse” from offshore teaching operations for lack of profitability and fear of damage to their reputations. Universities have confirmed the closure of dozens of courses plagued by quality and cost issues across Asia and the Pacific and involving thousands of students and million-dollar losses.

Offshore operations have been plagued by quality problems, often blamed by Australian universities on the difficulty of controlling their overseas partners’ standards.

Universities typically shut down programmes in advance of audits by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA), according to industry participants. This trend is expected to quicken as AUQA gears up for its next audit round, which will specifically target international operations.

More recently, damaging revelations of alleged mismanagement and reckless extravagance in international operations at Macquarie University and the collapse of the University of New South Wales’s Singapore venture are reported to have spooked the sector.

Included among recent withdrawals or reductions from international teaching programmes are the University of Technology Sydney, which has cut its student numbers in overseas programmes from 2500 to about 1000, Flinders University, which has withdrawn from Hong Kong and Singapore, Central Queensland University, which is currently “teaching out” terminated programs in Fiji, Singapore and Shanghai, the University of Southern Queensland, which has pared down thirty-seven programmes to twenty-six in China, Singapore, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Dubai and Curtin University, which is about to withdraw from a number of its programmes.

From The Australian

India’s PM says universities dysfunctional

India’s Prime Minister has slated that country’s higher-education institutions, saying that almost two-thirds of universities and almost all degree-granting colleges are rated as below average and that university curricula are typically not synchronized with the needs of employers or job seekers. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, also criticised falling levels of enrolment, saying that in almost half the districts in the country, higher-education enrolments are “abysmally low”.

Earlier this month, details were disclosed of a confidential report on Indian higher education prepared by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, an arm of the country’s higher-education regulator, the University Grants Commission. The report said that the Council had assessed 123 universities and 2,956 colleges across India and found that 90 percent of colleges and 68 percent of universities were of middling or poor quality, 25 percent of faculty positions at universities remained vacant, 57 percent of teachers in colleges lack either an MPhil or a PhD and, on average, there was only one computer for every 229 students in colleges.

The Prime Minister also sharply criticised the governance at India’s state universities, saying that a dysfunctional education system can only produce dysfunctional future citizens. He expressed concern that, in many states, the appointment of university officials, including vice chancellors, has been politicised. “There are complaints of favoritism and corruption,” he said. “We should free university appointments from unnecessary interventions on the part of governments and must promote autonomy and accountability.”

From The Chronicle of Higher Education

Terrorism studies surge

Terrorism is big business for universities in the United Kingdom, with levels of research and teaching in the area reported to be snowballing. A new book on terrorism is now being published every six hours in the English language, according to the latest research.

Meanwhile, course directors are reporting record levels of in¬ter¬est, with a surge in student de¬mand leading to the creation of scores of new courses.

Professor Andrew Silke, Director of Terrorism Studies at the University of East London who has been examining levels of research in the field, said terrorism scholarship had undergone a great transformation since the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States and had seen the birth of “terrorism ¬studies”. He said that, if current trends continue, more than 90 percent of the entire literature on terrorism will have been written since 9/11. “Before 9/11, terrorism research was in the margins. There was very, very little funding. I think people recognised it was an important topic, but very few focused on the area,” he said. “Now more money is there, we have PhD students coming through, and there’s an awful lot of interest in it.”

Brooke Rogers, a social psychologist at King’s College London, said that levels of funding for research into “home-grown” terrorism had risen markedly in the two years since the 7 July 2005 bombings in London. “It is picking up steam hugely. When I was looking for funding targeted at research into home-grown terrorism in 2003, there just wasn’t any interest,” she said. “There was a noticeable change after July 7 from the Government and funding councils. I feel like it is snowballing now.”

From The Times Higher Education Supplement

Faculty members poised to strike in Pennsylvania

Members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties are preparing to go on strike from next Monday in an action that could affect as many as 25,000 students. Negotiations are set to resume later today between the union and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education over a new employment contract for the faculty members, whose current agreement expires at midnight Saturday.

The union, which represents 5,500 professors at Pennsylvania’s fourteen state-owned universities, says that, if no settlement is reached, there will be no work until a new contract is agreed.

Patricia Heilman, President of the Faculty Association, said the union is asking for salary increases of 4 percent in 2007-8, 5.5 percent each year in 2008-9 and 2009-10 and 5 percent in 2010-11. The universities are offering a flat-rate increase of $US1,250 in 2007-8, a 2 percent increase each year in 2008-9 and 2009-10 and a 3 percent increase in 2010-11. Also in dispute is the percentage of the premium for health insurance that faculty members would pay.

Faculty members have been told by the union to remove important papers and personal items from their offices this week so they wouldn’t have to cross a picket line if there is a strike.

From The Chronicle of Higher Education

Beckham, US university lecturer

Although he may have failed all his GCSEs and admitted to being baffled by his then six-year-old son’s homework, celebrity footballer David Beckham is poised to lecture at one of America’s oldest universities on the conundrums of global diplomacy. The 127-year-old University of Southern California is keen to offer Beckham a platform from which to explain to its students how “soccer” can change the world.

Beckham has argued that football is much more than a mere sport: “It brings people together in hope, which is what I want to do with the academy,” he said. “It’s about physical excellence but it’s also about teamwork, working together to solve problems and celebrating together.”

This weekend, diplomats from the United Nations, the World Bank and several developing countries were travelling to the home ground of Beckham’s new football team, LA Galaxy, to watch a game and speak to the star’s advisers about his potential impact.

From The Times Online

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