New Research Reveals The Start Of Excessive Non-academic Staffing In New Zealand Universities

Wellington (Wednesday, 28 February 2024) - This new research note, When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the Long Run, 1961-1997, reveals the year in which non-academic employees started to outnumber academics at our universities.

Building on the findings of our earlier research report, Blessing or Bloat? Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities, which found that non-academics have long made up the majority of employees at New Zealand universities, this new research delves into the origins of this situation.

Key findings of this research note include:

• According to the data in Statistics NZ’s official yearbooks, non-academics first overtook academics in 1991.
• This occurred not because more non-academics were hired but because of a dramatic fall in the number of academics, and part-time academics in particular.
• Why NZ universities cut so many part-time academics so quickly isn’t clear. Our research seems to rule out, though, the idea that New Zealand universities bulked up their bureaucracies in response to the market-oriented reforms of the late 80s.
• What types of non-academic (librarians, managers, and so on) universities employed remained very stable well into the 90s, but it has changed quite substantially since the turn of the millennium. That difference may well turn out to be a result of the earlier reforms.

The full research note

When the Bloat Began: Non-Academic Staffing at New Zealand Universities over the long run, 1961-1997

by Dr James Kierstead and Dr Michael Johnston is available from The New Zealand Initiative’s website here .

James sits down with Dr Oliver Hartwich to delve into the insights of this research not here.

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