TEU Tertiary Update Vol 14 No 23

$500,000 increase in legal fees and consultants

The five polytechnics that have, until last week, refused to negotiate site-based collective agreements with their staff members have also so far refused official information requests to disclose how much money they are spending on legal fees and consultants in their efforts to avoid negotiations.

However, recently printed annual reports at two of the smaller polytechnics, Whitireia and Northtec, suggest that the amount could be significant.

NorthTec's 2010 annual report shows that it spent over $500,000 more on consultants and legal fees than it did in 2009 - up 195 percent from $286,000 to $844,000. Meanwhile the 2010 Whitireia annual report shows an increase in consultants and legal fees of $52,000, up 18 percent on 2009.

Neither report details how much, if any, of that amount related the polytechnics respective on-going dispute with their own staff.

Northtec's report shows that it spent $269,000 less on salaries for its academic staff in 2010 than it did in 2009 but it also spent an extra $650,000 on redundancy payments (up 340 percent from $188,000 to $834,000).

The result is academic staff numbers have fallen for the third year in a row. So, as the annual report itself notes, payroll savings of $1.1 million have been offset by the added expense of third party contractors, additional redundancies and early retirement expenses due to major restructuring during 2010.

TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs says NorthTec has not saved any money but it has lost skilled staff.

"For Northland this means many skilled academic staff are now either out of work, or have not had a pay rise of any significance for over three years. Unsurprisingly, NorthTec taught less students last year than it did in 2009; which is shame, given the need for young people to be learning trades and helping solve the current skills shortage in Northland."

Last week after the Court of Appeal has ruled the five polytechnics must bargain separate collective agreements, they announced that, despite all already having their own internal human resources teams, they would all be hiring the same external consultant, MartinJenkins and Associates, to negotiate on their behalf.

Also in Tertiary Update this week

1. Ministry of Education told it lacks 'shape'
2. University of Auckland proffers its 'best offer'
3. PM hawks education in India
4. Victoria cuts technology education again
5. Other news

Ministry of Education told it lacks 'shape'

The Ministry of Education is licking its wounds after a poor review from a combined team of State Services Commission, Treasury and Department of the Prime Minister officials. The review ranks the ministry the lowest out of ten government departments so far reviewed.

The ministry, which has taken on an more intensive role in tertiary education as a response to the Tertiary Education Commission's reduced and restricted role, was criticised for lack of leadership, direction and efficiency. It was also criticised for being too consultative:

"There is a consultative expectation in the wider education sector. This aligns with the collegial approach within the ministry resulting in a high weight on consensus and leading to processes that are at times very slow to reach conclusion. Risk aversion adds to the likelihood that urgency is lost and can lead to a perception of inertia and lack of responsiveness," states the review.

The Dominion Post reports that the review also casts doubt on the ministry's ability to deliver on the government's youth guarantee scheme and transition from secondary to tertiary education.

"It will be very challenging for the ministry ... and will call for the use of skills in areas where the ministry has not been strong in the past," it says.

Departing Education Secretary Karen Sewell told the Dominion Post the same problems had already been identified by the ministry and a programme had been under way for 18 months to improve effectiveness.

TEU national president Sandra Grey says it is hard to draw much from the report other than the government's intentions.

"Although just released, the review was actually undertaken six months ago. With regard to tertiary education the ministry is already clearly moving to meet the government's call for 'heightened leadership focus', 'direction and shape' and 'greater fiscal efficiency'. Behind the consultancy jargon we are likely to see a ministry that aligns more closely with the government's agenda of cut and corporatise, rather than collaborating with the many stakeholders in the sector," said Dr Grey.

University of Auckland proffers its 'best offer'

The University of Auckland has put what it is calling a 'Best Offer' to TEU in mediation last week. TEU has responded with a counter offer, which the university has rejected.

TEU members will now be meeting in the first week of Semester 2 to discuss the university's offer, but the meeting will not be a ratification meeting.

The university's offer has not changed in any substantive way since it was made to non-members back in November 2010. It still seeks to remove some key academic conditions out of the collective employment agreement and into human resource policy where they can be changed unilaterally by the employer.

The TEU branch committee says it is deeply concerned about the lack of progress in the dispute. The university's and TEU’s positions have shifted relatively little in the course of the negotiations. These positions are divided by a conflicting view of how terms and conditions for academic staff are to be negotiated, rather than their actual substance.

In an attempt to avoid a stalemate the branch committee is asking TEU members to consider a new proposal that would establish a new set of terms and conditions by mutual agreement. The proposal would first equalise the pay and leave structure for TEU members and non-union staff, then establish a professional working party to meet and report, within the period of the agreement, on a comprehensive review and redesign of the existing academic collective agreement.

The professional working party would include employment relations and legal representatives from both sides and would work to "modernise" the agreement in a way that meets both parties' needs.

The outcomes of the working party would become the substance of the subsequent bargaining process and agreement. The working party process would have a wider aim, namely, to foster a 'higher trust' model in the University.

PM hawks education in India

Prime Minister John Key is currently visiting India in an attempt to progress bilateral free trade agreement negotiations. The Prime Minister is travelling with Minister of Trade Tim Groser and a business delegation that includes representatives from the export education sector. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and trade is hopeful that negotiations will conclude next year.

Nearly 12,000 Indian students enrol in tertiary education in New Zealand, making India New Zealand's third largest educational market. AUT Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack told TVNZ that Indian university students bring in over $1 billion a year in tuition fees and living expenses.

"They are very big business."

There is increasing tertiary sector collaboration between New Zealand and Indian institutions. At least six of the eight New Zealand universities have one or more formal links with Indian institutions – activity includes delivery offshore, academic and student exchange, and research collaboration. Polytechnics have also been active in developing Indian partnerships. In total there are about 30 partnerships between Indian and New Zealand tertiary institutions representing a range of educational linkages from academic research collaborations to certificate and diploma level twinning programmes.

However, TEU president Sandra Grey says the danger with this set of negotiations, as with all trade negotiations is that they treat education as a tradable commodity.

"We support closer educational ties between New Zealand and Indian educators and institutions. But we can do that without treating education as if it is a private, for-profit commodity. We don't need a trade agreement, we need a quality public education and collaboration agreement," said Dr Grey.

Victoria cuts technology education again

Victoria University of Wellington is proposing to cut technology education staff at the Faculty of Education from 2.0 FTE to 1.0 FTE. The university claims that this in line with other curriculum areas and that there is low demand for the technology curriculum. In fact, technology is one of the curriculum areas most in demand in 2011.

TEU organiser Michael Gilchrist says the technology curriculum courses the University were carefully developed and adapted to align with current research-based initiatives.

"As a result, over the last two years, 95 percent of graduated new technology teachers who have sought employment in New Zealand secondary schools have been successful."

Mr Gilchrist says staffing in technology education already reduced from three to two FTE at the start of 2010.

"If it is reduced to one FTE, that staff member will struggle to meet student demand and maintain their quality of work at the current high level. Research, publication and thesis supervision will be cut dramatically. Collaborating on courses and moderating assessment will become extremely difficult, especially with one staff member teaching over all three trimesters."

Ironically, the government is placing significant emphasis on the importance of technology information and the Ministry of Education currently lists it as a subject requiring additional support, with funding for a national coordinator position as well as considerable in-service professional development support for technology teachers.

TEU will be opposing the change proposal and organising members and supporter to raise their concerns.

Other news

In 1978 and 1981 a government was elected despite getting less votes than its main political opponent. No wonder we switched to MMP. It's fairer - YouTube

Following comments last week by Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) chief executive Alastair Thompson, the CTU is now inviting union members to email the EMA directly asking it if it is serious about the pay gap between men and women, and what it intends to do about it - CTU

NorthTec and Te Wananga o Aotearoa (TWoA) have signed a lease that will see TWoA shifting its base of operations in Whangarei onto NorthTec's Raumanga campus. The tertiary institutes also signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow TWoA students to move into NorthTec courses once their own courses have finished - The Northern Advocate

The requirement of a perfect score - 100 percent - to get admission into one of India's leading colleges for commerce has highlighted the severe shortage of good quality higher education institutions in the country - University World News

England will move to a higher education system that is 25 per cent demand-driven and favours the brightest students and the cheapest providers, under proposals in a white paper released yesterday - The Australian

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.

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