PBRF Changes – Government Fiddles While The Tertiary Sector Burns

Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is frustrated with the lack of change heralded by the review of the Performance Based Research Fund.

National Secretary Sandra Grey is angry that TEU’s voice has been largely ignored. She says “tinkering with a fundamentally broken system doesn’t benefit the public, learners or staff in the tertiary sector.”

IPC Vice President Julie Douglas was extremely disappointed with the announcement. “This is just another example of the intrenched ignorance of our academic workloads.”

U35 representative Zoë Port singled out the Sector Representative Groups as one positive step, but is eager to see dedicated representation for Early Career Academics and young workers on the group. “PBRF is something that can literally make or break the career of an Early Career Academic. Any consultation is meaningless if it doesn’t carefully factor in the voices that are the future of this sector.”

Sandra Grey says the time has come for a tripartite approach to the reform of tertiary funding. “With government, providers and unions around the table these kinds of misunderstandings can be talked through and enduring solutions found rather than the current band-aid approach.”

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