AUS Tertiary Update

AUS Tertiary Update

Volume 10 Number 14, 3 May 2007

Tertiary Update is also available on the AUS website

www.aus.ac.nz

Delayed PBRF results to be released tomorrow

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has confirmed a new date for the release of the 2006 Quality Evaluation of the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) after delaying the release of the results on Tuesday.

The results will now be publicly available at 1.00 pm this Friday, 4 May 2007.

On Tuesday, the TEC had planned to release the results from the latest round but made the unexpected decision to delay the release as a result of the discovery of an oversight in the report.

That oversight was the failure to reassess the subject areas of 468 staff who changed the subject area under which they were assessed between the 2003 and 2006 Quality Evaluations. The staff in question did not have their Evidence Portfolios reassessed. The oversight was discovered when the TEC released their individual results to Tertiary Education Organisations (TEOs) on Monday 30 April.

Despite this error, the TEC is assuring staff and institutions that it will not affect the overall quality score of any TEO or the quality category achieved by any individual. TEC has stated, however, that the miscalculation may affect the overall score for some subject areas and, as a result, affect their overall rankings.

The TEC has described the oversight as regrettable and has apologised to the sector for the inconvenience caused with the delay of the release of this keenly awaited report.

The PBRF is worth around $230 million a year and aims to reward and encourage research at tertiary-education organisations. The 2006 Quality Evaluation is the second evaluation process since the fund was developed. The results of the last round were released in April 2004.

AUS representatives will attend a sector briefing on the PBRF results at the Duxton Hotel, Wellington at 9.30 am tomorrow. A media briefing will follow at 11.00 am, with the public release of the corrected data from the 2006 round at 1.00 pm.

Also in Tertiary Update this week

1. New funding for polytechnics, wananga and ITOs

2. Victoria jumping the gun on new funding system

3. EPMU workers locked out

4. Ombudsman keeps Massey fee-rise papers under wraps

5. Amalgamation website up and running

6. NZ to open a polytechnic in Bahrain

7. US professor-bias case dismissed

New Funding for polytechnics, wananga and ITOs

The Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE), the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) and the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) are welcoming the pre-budget announcement on 30 April 2007 of additional funding for the polytechnic, wananga and industry-training sectors.

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen, announced at Weltec Campus on Monday that Budget 2007 would provide a significant boost of $36.8 million of operating funding over four years and $90 million of capital funding over the next two years (all figures GST-exclusive) for the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP), Industry Training Organisation and wananga sectors.

ASTE National Secretary Ms Sharn Riggs responded to the announcement by saying, “ASTE has in general supported the direction signalled by Government towards a more strategic and collaborative sector. What has concerned us, however, has been the capacity of ITPs to respond to these changes which clearly will require a significant investment of resources if they are to be achieved. It remains our view that the sector is underfunded.” Ms Riggs added that ASTE hopes the injection of funding, while not enough, will provide a degree of stability for Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics that will enable them to use their staff, their best resource, to focus on achieving the best outcome for students.

NZUSA Co-President Joseph Randall also welcomed the announcement of extra funding, but added that student fees also need to be addressed as part of the new funding system. “Kiwi tuition fees are some of the highest in the world, and have continued to grow well ahead of inflation. The new funding system should also plan to bring fees down with greater levels of public investment.”

Mr Randall added that quality and relevance need to be balanced with equal access to tertiary education. “If government has greater certainty that it is funding quality, relevant courses, it needs to start lifting the fees burden off students.”

CTU Secretary Carol Beaumont thought that this announcement would help build a robust economy. “Getting the investment in skills development and education right is a vital part of building a high-wage, robust economy.” She added that, “Unions are part of industry, and key stakeholders therefore in industry training. The success of the tertiary reforms will be dependent on the ongoing engagement of all interested parties in tertiary and workforce education, including unions, and we look forward to continuing an active role in this work.”

Victoria jumping the gun on new funding system

The Association of University Staff is concerned that Victoria University is acting precipitously in assuming that the new tertiary-funding system will cause them disadvantage and by embarking on wide-scale reviews at the University before all the detail is known.

AUS National President Professor Haworth said that AUS supported the new funding regime, which provides more funding certainty than the current competitive “bums-on -seats” model. He said the current model has failed the sector and he welcomed the fact that universities will no longer be dependent on student numbers alone to determine funding. “The new funding model, including the three-year funding cycle, will help universities avoid the abrupt review exercises that Victoria proposed today,” he said.

“Our members have suffered greatly from the unfettered-growth model driven by the ‘bums-on-seats’ funding regime and its debilitating race for more students. There has been no national consideration of what might be needed from the university sector,” he said. “When student numbers go up, class sizes get bigger, and when student numbers go down, endless restructuring and job loss occurs,” he said. “The new model removes the competition for students and, with its emphasis on quality provision in a more stable environment, will be better for New Zealand and will provide more security for staff.”

He called on universities to work together to develop a single plan for a single university system in which each university plays to its strengths and supports the others’ programmes. “What we have seen from Victoria today is more of the same,” he said. “The Vice-Chancellor does not know what the new funding level will be for the University next year and has made an assumption that no growth will be funded. Our assumption is that growth in areas of strength and importance to Victoria will be funded, and growth simply intended to increase revenue will not. Our members care about a system that is stable and sustainable and based on quality provision,” Professor Haworth said.

He believes that the new system is much more likely to enable sound new investment in the sector from the Government. “This is what the sector needs and is the substance of the successful tripartite model in the sector involving the tertiary unions, vice-chancellors and the Government.

EPMU Workers locked out

On 1 May, International Workers’ Day, Amcor Flexibles locked out seventy Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union members at their packaging plant on Auckland’s North Shore.

The dispute centres on Amcor Flexibles’ desire to introduce a mandatory flexible shift structure that would allow the company to roster workers on to work at the plant’s discretion. This claim and an offer of the equivalent of one extra week of annual leave in cash was rejected by workers who were subsequently locked out.

CTU President Ross Wilson said yesterday, “Amcor Flexibles should immediately end its lockout of more than fifty factory workers in Auckland and get back to the negotiating table.”

“All working New Zealanders know that this sort of bullying corporate behaviour is unfair and unacceptable.”

“Last year, when Progressive Enterprises tried it on with supply chain workers, they provoked an unprecedented level of action from working New Zealanders and their families and communities, support which quickly became international. The whole New Zealand union movement will be watching the actions of Amcor over the next few days very closely,” he said.

Ombudsman keeps Massey fee-rise papers under wraps

Education Review reports this week that it’s bid to get the Ombudsman to make the TEC release its assessment of the Massey University 10 percent student-fee increase has failed.

The TEC refused the Education Review request for a copy of the assessment in January, citing an obligation of confidence to the University.

Ombudsman Mel Smith has agreed with the TEC, stating that it was clear that the information at issue is financially sensitive and the disclosure would be likely to harm the financial position of the University.

Education Review argued that the TEC assessment should be made public because the 34,000 individuals affected by the fee rise should be fully informed of TEC’s decision.

Amalgamation website up and running

A website with detailed information on the proposed amalgamation of the Association of University Staff, the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education and the Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association is now up and running.

AUS members are encouraged to visit the website at: http://www.aus.ac.nz/Current/amalgamation/amalgamation.asp

Worldwatch

NZ to set up polytechnic in Bahrain

Education Review reports that the education consulting agency Polytechnics International New Zealand has won a contract to start a new polytechnic in Bahrain.

The multi-million–dollar, five-year contract is the largest to be won by a New Zealand education company in the Middle East.

Minister for Economic Development Trevor Mallard praised the win, saying, “It is a huge fillip to the Kiwi international-education industry, and demonstrates that New Zealand is regarded as having world leading services.”

Former CEO of Christchurch Polytechnic and Institute of Technology, John Scott, has moved to Bahrain to lead the project and former Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand Executive Director, Martin Eadie, will be deputy team leader.

US professor-bias case dismissed

Christian M. DeJohn had attempted to sue Temple University, where he formerly studied, alleging that his professors had thwarted his efforts to finish a master’s degree in History after he complained about anti-war emails that were circulating in the History Department.

A Federal judge, Stewart Dalzell of the US District Court in Philadelphia, dismissed the matter, stating that there was no evidence that one professor had retaliated against Mr DeJohn and that the other professor behaved towards Mr DeJohn in a manner that was within the professor’s rights.

The case has sparked the interest of some of the biggest national players in the debate over academic freedom and allegations of liberal bias on American campuses.

Mr DeJohn is said to be considering an appeal.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

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AUS Tertiary Update is compiled weekly on Thursdays and distributed freely to members of the Association of University Staff and others. Back issues are available on the AUS website: www.aus.ac.nz . Between 5 April and 10 May 2007, all enquires should be made to either Camilla Belich or Rebecca Matthews, AUS Policy Analysts, Phone 04 801 4795 or Email rebecca.matthews@aus.ac.nz or camilla.belich@aus.ac.nz

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