University Vice Chancellor Must Apologise To Parents

The Waikato University vice-chancellor must immediately withdraw his promise to bar New Zealand students with foreign high school qualifications, ACT MP Donna Awatere Huata said today.

"I seek a full apology from Mr Gould to parents throughout New Zealand," Mrs Awatere Huata said.

Mr Gould's politically-motivated comments are being used by Education Minister Trevor Mallard as an argument for the implementation of the NCEA high school qualification. Mr Gould says he does not want to 'undermine' the new qualification by accepting New Zealand students with foreign qualifications.

Some of New Zealand's best schools are choosing to offer British A-Levels and baccalaureate exams because the NCEA is fundamentally flawed.

"If Mr Gould chooses to reject students from these schools in order to impress his Labour friends, then his institution will suffer.

"One in ten students at Waikato University are international students, who pay higher fees than New Zealand students. Mr Gould's objection to foreign qualifications is obviously overcome by a few dollars.

"A ban would be racist and hypocritical.

"His politically-motivated meddling is unwelcome here," Donna Awatere Huata said.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>