Scoop  Education

Minister offers to lean on polytechnic to change its funding

TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs says it seems irregular that the minister of tertiary education, Steven Joyce, would openly suggest that Wanganui Council sever the links between its Glass School and UCOL so that it could be run as private business, or PTE.

Ms Riggs says it is also astonishing that the minister has, according to the Dominion Post, offered to "lean" on the Tertiary Education Commission to make sure it held talks with UCOL about reallocating funding.

"If the news reports are true I think the minister has overstepped the mark," said Ms Riggs. "The minister should be protecting and improving our public education system not telling local mayors to privatise parts of it."

Wanganui mayor Michael Laws told the Dominion Post that the council-owned Glass School's growth and viability is being stifled by the government funding cap on student numbers. He is arguing that UCOL, which runs the school on behalf of the council, reallocate internal funding to increase the Glass School's number of government-funded places from 24 to 40.

Mr Laws and other Wanganui councillors asked Mr Joyce to lobby UCOL on their behalf.

The glass school was the only one of its kind in the country and was vital to Whanganui's desire to be known as a centre of excellence for artistry, Mr Laws told Mr Joyce.

"The Wanganui Glass School is a unique part of Wanganui and of New Zealand" said Ms Riggs. "But that does not mean that the minister should be interfering in how the commission or local polytechnics allocate funding.  And he certainly should not be using this as an opportunity to privatise a part of our public education system."

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. PBRF to favour business research


2. New qualifications framework launched


3. Massey and Canterbury redundancies hurting universities


4. Initiative to help carers keep their jobs


5. Other news

PBRF to favour business research

The Tertiary Education Commission last week released new PBRF guidelines for assessing the quality of research carried out by universities, polytechnics and wānanga.

Business New Zealand's chief executive Phil O’Reilly is excited that the new guidelines give greater preference to commercial research.

"The new guidelines put greater emphasis on commercial research and the entrepreneurial application of research, and will help businesses and research organisations achieve more for New Zealand."

Dr Garth Carnaby, President of the NZ Royal Society, and Entrepreneur in Residence at Lincoln University, also hailed the new business friendly PBRF guidelines:

"The old approach meant commercial research was treated as a poor relative. The new guidelines help break down that prejudice, which has got to be good for New Zealand business innovation and therefore New Zealand as a whole," said Dr Carnaby.

Meanwhile , thanks to significant feedback from TEU and academics, TEU's previous concerns that the new guidelines would allow PBRF data to be used as a tool for recruitment, career progression and in subsequent employment disputes has been partially allayed. However we still remain concerned that any individual results are released to employers and will be closely monitoring instituions' use of the guidelines.

The protocols in the 2012 guidelines will require that institutions shall restrict access to individual Quality Categories to the minimum number of staff necessary. Those individual Quality Categories should only be used for validating of the accuracy of the Quality Categories, internal management and allocation of financial resources (consistent with the purposes of the PBRF), for identifying strengths of departments or schools; and/or as an externally-validated benchmark to help ensure appropriate internal calibration of assessments of research.

TEC chief executive, Dr Roy Sharp introduced the new guidelines thus:

"The PBRF is widely recognised as being successful in achieving its objectives to increase research excellence. It remains the most important policy development for tertiary education research in New Zealand."

New qualifications framework launched

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce announced this week the establishment of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework, to replace the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications and the National Qualifications Framework.  He said this is the first step towards streamlining the qualifications system following a review of qualifications carried out last year.

"The qualifications review was designed to cut back on the number of unused or duplicate qualifications and ensure they were more recognisable to potential students and employers."

The introduction of the NZQF will immediately see the number of current qualifications drop by about 15 percent.

Sector representatives have been positive about the changes.  NZUSA co-president David Do welcomed the framework and said it would make life easier for current and future students, especially at polytechnics.

Industry Training Federation executive director Jeremy Baker said the new framework is an opportunity for New Zealand to learn from past mistakes. He looked forward to Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) having a role in developing and improving qualifications.

TEU's ITP vice president Richard Draper also welcomed the changes. Mr Draper did note however that while the announcement mentions the need to respond to the needs of students and industry, it seems to envisage increased input only from industry, presumably in the form of the Industry Training Federation (ITF). "We do feel there is a case for including the voice of students and for other professional bodies in the tertiary sector."

"We do also note the somewhat ambiguous role of the Industry Training Federation (ITF) and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs)," said Mr Draper. "While these bodies have a role in setting national standards for New Zealand industries, it is important that they do not also become involved in provision of qualifications, lest this compromises their position."

Massey and Canterbury redundancies hurting universities

News of 53 proposed redundancies at Massey University has rung alarm bells for TEU members at Christchurch's University of Canterbury.

The proposed redundancies at Massey University echo those at the University of Canterbury where 95 people have already been made redundant and even more redundancies are to come.

TEU members at Canterbury are supporting their colleagues at Massey in their campaign to save their jobs according to TEU branch vice president Jennifer Middendorf.

Ms Middendorf said that the redundancies at the University of Canterbury had hurt staff morale and that some staff, programmes and students at the university now faced an uncertain future.

"The University of Canterbury said disestablished staff will be able to apply for new positions, but many of the new positions being created are at lower salaries, or require different qualifications than the disestablished positions.  Since the beginning of this restructuring the university has redeployed only a handful of staff - far short of the 95 who have so far lost their jobs," said Ms Middendorf.

"These two universities risk throwing away years of expertise, commitment and loyalty for the sake of saving a few dollars.  It's a travesty that Canterbury's poor example is being adopted by Massey University as well. Let's hope other universities do not follow suit."

Initiative to help carers keep their jobs

According to Census 2006 more than 420,000 New Zealanders provide support for an ill, disabled, frail or elderly family member or friend. 88 percent of those carers are of workforce age (15 to 65) and national nonprofit Carers NZ estimates that one in 7 workers have caring responsibilities.  It believes, based on global demographics, that the true number of carers in New Zealand is more than 750,000.

However, a study undertaken by Auckland University last year found that of 300 carers interviewed, only 8 have been able to remain in paid employment.

Carers NZ, the NZ Council of Trade Unions, Business NZ, Accelerating Aotearoa, and others have partnered to help workers and their employers better understand how caring can affect someone’s ability to stay in paid work.  Government agencies have also been invited to participate.

Through their Work Life Care! initiative, the organisations can provide workers and workplaces with advice, and free quarterly Family Care magazines.  A digital edition of Family Care, which is has a special Work Life Care! information section in every issue, is available for free use on staff intranets.

Carers NZ says carers often feel they need to give up their jobs following a family emergency, or they may become burnt out by their dual role as workers and carers.

"With our partners we want to ensure that caring workers receive help early, before there is an emergency … and that their employers are aware of common issues, and could perhaps offer flexible work options for staff who might otherwise leave their jobs."

It says family carers are New Zealand’s biggest health workforce and are an unpaid union of Kiwis who require the focused support of government, and employers.

Other news

In bargaining news the ITP MECA ballot closes this afternoon.  We will have the results on the TEU website as soon as they are to hand.  TEU has also initiated for individual site bargaining at most universities around the country.

Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce is not worried by the 30 percent increase in student allowance costs this year but he expected demand for the allowance to gradually decrease over the next few years. "It's a balancing act because student numbers do tend to go up in a recession, but it's not something the Government is worried about. Our main focus is the academic benefits," he said – Dominion Post

A member of the Zimbabwe Universities Lecturers Association says that that education needs to be urgently addressed. "For the past two years, some universities including the biggest, University of Zimbabwe, have failed to open on the scheduled times for a number of times. Three quarters of the qualified staff has gone for greener pastures and students do not have decent accommodation." – The Zimbabwean

Staff at Melbourne's Victoria University are locked in a bitter dispute with management over pay rises, with the university moving to dock the wages of academics participating in union work bans. The National Tertiary Education Union says university management have told staff that a pay increase cannot be afforded this year - The Age

The frontier in the battle to defeat student cheating may be here at the testing center of the University of Central Florida. No gum is allowed during an exam: chewing could disguise a student’s speaking into a hands-free cellphone to an accomplice outside - Chronicle of Higher Education

The Australian Qualifications Framework council has rejected the University of Melbourne's plans to badge some new masters-level degrees as doctorates. The council argues that the new professional degrees in health will diminish their status. The stand-off between Melbourne and the AQF has triggered a sector-wide debate about the integrity of academic titles – The Australian

The Scientist magazine names its top US and international universities at which to be an academic. Sadly none of them are in New Zealand.
---
TEU Tertiary Update is published weekly on Thursdays and distributed freely to members of the Tertiary Education Union and others. You can subscribe to Tertiary Update by email or feed reader. Back issues are available on the TEU website. Direct inquiries should be made to Stephen Day, email: stephen.day@teu.ac.nz

© Scoop Media

 

Culture Headlines | Health Headlines | Education Headlines