Labour Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard has welcomed the announcement that the Auckland Institute of Technology has been granted university status but has criticised the government process which led to the announcement.

"AIT is a hugely successful tertiary institution which offers a wide range of courses to students from throughout Auckland and the rest of the country," Judith Tizard said.

"As local MP I have been welcomed on to their campuses many times and have always been impressed with the quality and standards of programmes they offer.

"As part of the next government, I look forward to working with AIT and my colleagues to define more carefully what a university of technology is. It is a pity that the Government did not do this work years ago. AIT has clear and focused ideas what they want to achieve, but there is a need to incorporate the term into education legislation.

"It's a cop out for the Government to grant AIT university status without doing the work necessary to include 'university of technology' status on the tertiary education sector framework," Judith Tizard said.

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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>>