University staff welcome TEC

The recommendation from the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission that the Government should move to establish a permanent body to be responsible for the co-ordination of tertiary education in New Zealand was welcomed today by university staff.

The National President of the Association of University Staff, Neville Blampied, said in Wellington today that the move to establish a permanent autonomous Tertiary Education Commission was warmly welcomed as this had been on the Association’s lobbying agenda since the abolition of the University Grants Committee in 1990.

While expressing support for the general direction of the TEAC report, Mr Blampied expressed concern at the likely timetable for implementation of the recommendation to establish a permanent commission.

“We are unlikely to see any realistic improvement in overall funding levels until academic year 2003. For a system in crisis this is intolerable.

“The time for the Government to rely on the three Rs – Rhetoric, Reviews and Reports – is at an end. If the Government is to advance its vision of New Zealand becoming a knowledge society and innovation-based economy then three Cs are required – courage, commitment and cash – and the most important right now is cash”, he said.

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