AUS Tertiary Update

AUS General Secretary takes over top union job
Association of University Staff General Secretary, Helen Kelly, has taken over the reins of the top position in this country’s trade union movement with the retirement of Ross Wilson as the President of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU).
While the change was foreshadowed in July, the mantle was handed over on Tuesday evening when two hundred delegates to the NZCTU Biennial Conference in Wellington formally confirmed the election of Helen Kelly as President and Public Service Association National Secretary, Richard Wagstaff, as Vice-President. Current NZCTU Secretary, Carol Beaumont, and Vice-President Maori, Sharon Clair, were both re-elected for a further term.
Delegates to the Conference paid tribute to the outgoing President, Ross Wilson, saying that he had been spectacularly successful in unifying the New Zealand trade union movement and leading a positive, constructive and active union agenda. “In all his work at the NZCTU, whether it was in health and safety, wage campaigns, international representation, the state sector or Maori economic development, Ross Wilson has been a very effective advocate for working people in this country,” said Carol Beaumont.
AUS National President, Professor Nigel Haworth, said that Helen Kelly is admirably equipped to fill the role played so well by Ross Wilson for the last eight years. He said that she had brought remarkable energy, commitment and intelligence to the AUS and that those qualities would be invaluable in her new and wider contribution to New Zealand workers and trades unions. “Helen has provided dynamic and visionary leadership to AUS over the last five years, and she has been instrumental in the union’s national bargaining process and tripartite discussions with the Government, the latter resulting in significant levels of new funding for universities,” he said.
Helen Kelly will be farewelled from the AUS at its Annual Conference on 26 November.
AUS Deputy Secretary, Nanette Cormack, will act as General Secretary until a new appointment is made.
Helen Kelly’s inaugural address as NZCTU President can be found at:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0710/S00250.htm

Also in Tertiary Update this week
1. Confusion deepens over university funding
2. Jobs under threat at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
3. Auckland, Lincoln increase tuition fees
4. Raising skills crucial to our global competitiveness, says Cullen
5. Craccum pretty bloody good, Magneto marvellously offensive
6. VCs seek advice on union-busting
7. University presidents threaten strike
8. Southern Illinois President cleared of plagiarism
9. University regrets failure to invite Tutu
10. How to deal ... with life

Confusion deepens over university funding
Following last week’s report that the University of Otago will not get the level of government funding it expected next year, it has been reported that New Zealand’s eight universities may receive as much as $14 million less than expected unless the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) can wrest more money from the Government. It appears that the new three-year funding arrangements, based on Investment Plans negotiated between individual tertiary education institutions and the TEC, twice failed sufficiently to estimate enrolment growth in the university sector.
The latest university understood to have been told it is to receive less than expected is Canterbury, which called a special Council meeting on Monday evening to discuss the situation. While University of Canterbury officials remain tight-lipped, a spokesperson said that, given that this is the University’s first experience with the new funding model, their funding expectations have varied as they have learned more about the process. “This means the final figure is both more and less than we had anticipated at various times during the negotiation process. But we are relatively comfortable with where things have ended up,” the spokesperson said.
What appears to have occurred is that a significant component of the initial funding arrangements for 2008 was based on 2006 enrolment figures but did not adequately forecast enrolment growth. As a result, Cabinet approved a further $43 million funding for the tertiary-education sector, of which $34 million was for universities.
What then happened is that more up-to-date figures showed that, even with the additional $34 million, universities needed another $14 million to fund growth, particularly at Victoria, the University of Auckland and AUT University. In the absence of further Government money, it is understood existing funding has been re-allocated, leading to the reports that Otago and Canterbury have had reductions to make up the shortfalls at those universities with large enrolment growth.
While no one appears prepared to speak on the record, industry sources are describing the current funding allocation as interim, with negotiations continuing between individual institutions and the TEC. Final funding figures are expected to be confirmed by the TEC in November.

Jobs under threat at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
The effect of new funding arrangements for the tertiary-education sector is predicted to have a major impact on polytechnics as well as universities, with the Bay of Plenty Times reporting this week that jobs are already at risk and courses catering for 200 full-time students are facing the axe at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. The newspaper reports that, as a result of changes in the new funding system, the Polytechnic faces a funding cut of up to $1.3 million and will have to look at reducing the range of courses offered. It may potentially withdraw from offering up to ten programmes. The Polytechnic will not identify those courses but said that they will not affect diploma or degree programmes, including those offered in partnership with the University of Waikato and Auckland University of Technology. Similarly, courses in high demand or imperative to the Bay’s economy will not be lost.
The Bay of Plenty Times reports the Polytechnic Chief Executive, Alan Hampton, as saying that the only way to comply with the funding cap for 2008-10, which has been negotiated with the Tertiary Education Commission, is to identify some programmes to cut. “This will enable full-time students and dollars to be within our negotiated cap,” Dr Hampton said. “We will be looking in six to nine months’ time to negotiate an improved agreement for 2009 and 2010. Even in a capped environment it is imperative the institution keeps developing and growing.”
The funding cap will also result in the loss of some jobs. Dr Hampton said at least eleven academic jobs had been identified as being at risk and affected staff notified. He said the announcement had come as a shock to staff, many of whom are likely to be a family’s principal wage earner.

Auckland, Lincoln increase tuition fees
Auckland and Lincoln have become the latest universities to increase student tuition fees for next year, with Lincoln to increase fees by an average of 4.5 percent and Auckland by an average 3.7 percent for 2008. Auckland’s fees will increase by 2.7 percent for undergraduates, 7.2 percent for postgraduates and 5 percent for international students.
The University of Auckland says that the government tuition subsidy, the single largest source of student funding, will increase by only 2.1 percent for 2008, well below the real rise in university costs. It says that, coupled with government-imposed limits on student fees, revenue increases in 2008 will not be sufficient to meet the increase in costs and that, overall, the University will suffer a shortfall of $7.9 million in real terms.
University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, says that the cumulative effect of government policies is now an annual loss of about $220 million across the university sector. “While we would prefer not to put student fees up, the only other option available to us is to suffer an even greater reduction in revenue and with it a decline in quality. That is not acceptable,” he said.
Lincoln University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Roger Field, says that the high-cost environment in which universities operate today makes increases in fees inevitable.
Meanwhile, students at Auckland say they are disappointed that they are again left bearing the brunt of increasing fees while the Government fails to properly fund high-quality tertiary education. The Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA) says that high and rising fees are one of the root causes of New Zealand’s high levels of student debt, soon due to exceed a “whopping” $9.4 billion.
AUSA Acting President, Bethanie Maples, says, however, that international students are continuing to be milked by the University, which has turned its back on possible alternatives to continuing fee rises. “This is incredibly disappointing. International students deserve to be treated better than this,” she said. “They shouldn’t be treated as cash cows by institutions. Raising fees when international student numbers continue to fall is perverse.”

Raising skills crucial to our global competitiveness, says Cullen
New Zealand must increase its skill base if the country is to maintain its international reputation and enhance its global competitiveness, according to the Minister for Tertiary Education, Dr Michael Cullen. Speaking at the Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand Annual Conference in Hamilton last Friday, Dr Cullen said that the issues facing New Zealand now require new, more innovative ways of thinking if the country is to tackle the challenges of ongoing skill shortages and productivity levels that are not rising quickly enough.
Dr Cullen said that the skills strategy being developed by the Skills New Zealand Forum, comprising the Government and Council of Trade Unions and Business New Zealand representatives, provides an excellent means to obtain a thorough understanding of all the challenges and develop solutions that will result in real progress. “A core goal of the skills strategy is to use skills development to enable our industries to shift to higher-value business models. Eighty percent of our workforce in 2020 is already in the workforce now,” he said. “As a result, we must make better use of the current workforce by raising people’s skills and increasing the value of the work that they do, if we are to transform our economy.”
Dr Cullen said, taken together, the skills strategy and tertiary-education reforms provide a more effective way for institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs), industry training organisations (ITOs), employers and employees to better understand current and future skill needs as well as to influence the supply of skills. “Both ITPs and ITOs have important roles to play in boosting the skills of people in the workforce and people soon to enter employment. Greater clarity around their respective roles and responsibilities is critical to the success of the skills strategy,” he said. “The new way of investing in tertiary education gives us the opportunity to develop a tertiary sector with the capability to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
Dr Cullen’s speech, “Transforming tertiary education and the New Zealand economy”, can be found at:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0710/S00231.htm

Craccum pretty bloody good, Magneto marvellously offensive
Auckland University student newspaper, Craccum, has been named as New Zealand’s best student magazine, taking away the top prize at the annual Fairfax Media ASPA Awards, held recently at Massey University’s Wellington campus. Thirteen student publications from across the country’s universities and polytechnics competed for sixteen awards covering fields ranging from the overall quality of publication to writing, design, photography and cartooning. This year’s were the fifth annual awards, the first to be held in association with Fairfax Media.
A panel of media experts, including senior Metro writers and the Editorial Executive of the Dominion Post, Suzanne Carty, awarded Craccum the top overall honour. Carty described the paper as “irreverent, smart, and all in all, pretty bloody good”. The Metro writers described Craccum as possessing a “sophisticated wit throughout, and a determination to get under the skin of its subjects. They assume their readers are intelligent and have good knowledge.”
Massey University's Wellington Campus publication, Magneto, scooped the “Best Small Publication Category” for the second year running, with Ms Carty saying it was “an entertaining and informative magazine, being both marvellously offensive and readable at the same time”.
Other winners included Matt Russell and Nick Gibb from Chaff (Massey Palmerston North), who won Best Feature Writer and Best Cover Design respectively. Laura McQuillian from Salient managed to take away the Best News Writer award, with Rosalind Case from Nexus (Waikato University) winning Best Editorial Writer.

Worldwatch
VCs seek advice on union-busting
Vice-chancellors in the United Kingdom have been accused of adopting “union busting” tactics after a law firm confirmed last week that it was advising universities on how to circumvent recognised campus trade unions. A partner at lawyers Pinsent Masons said frustration with higher-education trade unions had been a “recurring theme” in discussions with university clients in recent months. In a company bulletin, the partner wrote that institutions should consider establishing alternative employee-relations arrangements, such as a works council or a staff forum, saying that these offer “a real opportunity for a new direction in employee relations” and demonstrate to unions that they are not “the only show in town”.
Industrial relations in higher education have been strained after last year’s pay dispute, one of the most bitter ever seen.
Malcolm Keight, head of Higher Education at the University and College Union, said that he was surprised that this 1980s union-busting idea is still circulating in the higher-education sector. “I am aware that a number of new human-resources directors in the sector are from non-unionised backgrounds and are unused to having their wisdom questioned, but they should concentrate more on understanding how staff see their employers regarding pay and conditions, and understanding low morale, not shooting the messenger,” he said.
From The Times Higher Education Supplement

University presidents threaten strike
The presidents of Israel’s universities have threatened not to open their institutions next week for the new academic year if they do not receive an additional $NZ100 million from the Treasury. In the last few days, the head of the University Presidents’ Committee has been involved in negotiations with representatives of the Finance Ministry, but says the universities will not be able to open without a budgetary supplement.
The Hebrew University in Jerusalem was the first institute to announce its intention not to open for the year, releasing a statement saying that its Management Committee has requested that the Government adopt the recommendations of the Shohat Commission which identified the need for the additional funding. “If the additional $100 million are not granted, the academic year will not open as planned,” the statement said.
Adding to the problems, university professors are also threatening not to begin work. Professor Zvi Hacohen, head of the coordinating body of the academic staff, has been involved in intense ongoing negotiations with the Finance Ministry in recent days. “As of today, we are not opening the school year. The differences between us and the Finance Ministry are too great,” he said.
The lecturers are requesting a 20 percent increase in their salaries but so far the Finance Ministry has only offered them a 5 percent increase.
YnetNews, Israel

Southern Illinois President cleared of plagiarism
Although he made citation “errors” and “mistakes” that require immediate correction, Glenn Poshard, President of Southern Illinois University, did not intentionally plagiarise a doctoral dissertation he completed as a graduate student there more than twenty years ago, according to a faculty panel formed by the institution’s Chancellor to look into charges of academic dishonesty.
The allegations first surfaced after the University’s student newspaper, The Daily Egyptian, following a tip that dozens of passages that appeared in Poshard’s dissertation without proper citation had appeared verbatim in other sources. The latest allegations came less than a year after the then-chancellor of the Southern Illinois Carbondale campus was forced out amid accusations that he had copied content from another University’s strategic plan.
The seven-person committee of senior faculty, whose report on Poshard was released last Thursday, recommended that the University take no action against the President. However, it called for the dissertation to be withdrawn from the University library and replaced with a corrected copy prepared by Poshard, and for the President to write a statement that expands on the reasons his errors occurred.
From Inside Higher Education

University regrets failure to invite Tutu
The University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota, United States, widely criticised recently for declining to invite Archbishop Desmond Tutu to speak at an annual conference next April, now admits it made the wrong decision and says it wants the South African civil-rights leader to visit the campus.
The President of the Catholic University, Dennis Dease, sent a letter to students, members of the faculty and staff late last week saying he had changed his mind about the Archbishop’s appearance and would now like to formally invite him to visit the University.
In his letter, Father Dease said that he had “wrestled with what is the right thing to do in this situation” and had concluded that his earlier decision not to invite Archbishop Tutu had been wrong. “Although well-intentioned,” he wrote, “I did not have all of the facts and points of view, but now I do.”
In explaining the earlier decision last week, Saint Thomas officials had said that it was based on feedback from Jewish people inside and outside the University who had raised concerns that the Archbishop’s presence could be offensive to some people because of his past criticisms of Israel.
Father Dease said that, regardless of whether Archbishop Tutu chose to accept the invitation, he would like the Archbishop to visit the University to discuss “the issues that have been raised”.
Chronicle of Higher Education

How to deal ... with life
A new group of poker enthusiasts is quickly gaining popularity at Harvard Law School in the United States, where playing cards online has apparently been a campus staple for years. Although attracting congressional attention to online gambling and promoting concerns to be raised about the game’s addictive qualities, the group, which comprises a growing coalition of law professors, students and aspiring poker champs, hopes to turn the game’s intricacies into a learning tool.
Called the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Societies, the group, which has had chapters sprout up at Yale, Brown, Stanford and the University of California at Los Angeles, among other universities, law schools and business schools, hopes to turn students’ enthusiasm for the popular card game into an opportunity to teach cognitive skills, probability and risk assessment. It hopes to set up after-school programmes at high schools and tie some of the club’s lessons into the curriculum of existing university courses, such as statistics.
Education Guardian

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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 . Direct enquires should be made to Marty Braithwaite, AUS Communications Officer, email: marty.braithwaite@aus.ac.nz

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