TEU Tertiary Update Vol 13 No 1

DEPT OF LABOUR PREDICTS MāORI EDUCATION JOBS AT RISK

A Department of Labour report, Māori in the New Zealand Labour Market,
shows that there has been a strong growth of Māori employed in education,
including tertiary education, over the last five years. However there are
likely to be job losses for Māori education workers in the upcoming eight
years.

The recently released report provides a detailed examination of Māori in the
labour market including educational, employment, unemployment and population
trends. It also seeks to capture the impact of the current economic downturn
on the Māori labour market.

Between 2004 and 2009 the number of Māori employed in education increased
from 19,800 to over 22,000, an increase of 12 percent - slightly higher than
the 11 percent rate of increase for non-Māori in working in education over
the same period.

However, the department forecasts that the outlook is less positive for
Māori education workers, with the number employed likely to fall by an
average of 0.6 percent per year until 2018. That would equate to more than
130 Māori education workers losing their job each year until 2018.

The report also notes that the total median hourly earning for Māori workers
in all jobs has failed to grow as fast as it has for non-Māori workers. In
2004 Māori were paid an average of $1.50 less per hour than non-Māori
workers. Last year that gap had increased to $2 per hour. Māori women's
median hourly earnings from wages and salaries were $16.43, compared with
$18.22 for all women. For Māori men, median hourly earnings were $18.31,
compared with $20.53 for all men.

ALSO IN TERTIARY UPDATE THIS WEEK:

1. ITP MECA dispute enters new year
2. UNESCO calls for renewed effort on Education For All
3. Massey, Canterbury and Otago to exclude more students
4. Aoraki Polytechnic buys PTEs
5. US colleges feel pinch despite federal money

ITP MECA DISPUTE ENTERS NEW YEAR

The Northern Advocate reported late last week that the ongoing ITP MECA
dispute could result in further disrupted courses next month.

President of the NorthTec branch of TEU, Eric Stone, said the union had
offered management a zero percent pay rise and rollover of all existing
conditions, but that management had rejected the offer and had been
steadfast in trying to lower conditions.

"Our offer was pretty generous because CPI has gone up. There's a recession
but it's difficult to deal with employers who are mean-spirited and it’s no
wonder people are frustrated and angry."

NorthTec acting chief executive Paul Binney told the paper that that
polytechnic continued to work hard to achieve a settlement of the multi
employer collective agreement.

However, TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs says that by rejecting the zero
percent pay offer, the polytechnic CEOs have shown their motives were not to
limit spending or increase productivity after all, but to launch an attack
on union members and union rights.

"To date polytechnic chief executives have been willing to spend a year
wasting taxpayers' money by dragging out an industrial dispute that should
have ended months ago. According to the principles of current employment
law, it simply is not acceptable for a group of large employers to be
actively working to move a thousand union members off their collective
agreement onto much less secure individual agreements. It breaches the
fundamental principles of the Employment Relations Act."

UNESCO CALLS FOR RENEWED EFFORT ON EDUCATION FOR ALL

UNESCO has issued an urgent call to action for the international community
to invest in sustained aid to provide quality education for the most
marginalized and poorest learners worldwide.

In their comprehensive annual report on progress towards the Education
For All (EFA) goals, independent researchers warn that the global economic
crisis threatens the progress that has been made in the decade since the
world agreed to work towards the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

While rich countries have "moved financial mountains to stabilize financial
systems," they have failed to respond to the needs of the 1.4 billion people
who survive on less than $1.25 a day. "Ultimately, the world economy will
recover from the global recession, but the crisis could create a lost
generation of children in the world’s poorest countries, whose life chances
will have been jeopardized by a failure to protect their right to
education," the report states.

While the report focuses strongly on primary education for children it also
notes that countries are neglecting the third goal of Education for All;
ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met
through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes.

"The global economic crisis has pushed learning and skills up the political
agenda. Governments across the world now face the challenge of providing
immediate support to the vulnerable while equipping people with the skills
they need to re-enter labour markets."

MASSEY, CANTERBURY AND OTAGO TO EXCLUDE MORE STUDENTS

Massey University and the universities of Canterbury and Otago announced
this month that they are strengthening their exclusion policies to limit the
number of underperforming students who return to study. Thousands of
students are likely to be excluded according to the Dominion Post.

Student representatives have reacted angrily to the news, with New Zealand
Union of Students Associations' co-president David Do saying that
universities were using the policy as a punitive tool to clear students off
their books due to constrained funding.

"Open entry is a very important feature of the education system. It's a
cornerstone of our public tertiary education system."

New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee deputy chairman Roger Field, of
Lincoln University, told the Dominion Post that rather than kicking
students out of university, his preference was to let in only those who were
likely to succeed. A "major overhaul" of entrance standards was needed.

TEU national president, Dr Tom Ryan, said however that students are
suffering from the new approach because universities and the Ministry of
Education are wilfully ignoring an increase in potential students.

"The Ministry and universities both know that there is a baby boom-blip of
18 and 19 year olds currently trying to get into tertiary education. There
is pressure for places. The current rhetoric about excluding underperforming
students ignores the reality."

"It is not just under-performing students who are missing out, but young
people who genuinely want the chance to study and better themselves. If we
want to meet the minister’s goals of increasing New Zealand’s productivity
and wellbeing, by increasing the number of young people engaged in study,
especially Māori and Pasifika, then we need to be improving access to
universities, not limiting that access," concluded Dr Ryan.

AORAKI POLYTECHNIC BUYS PTES

Aoraki Polytechnic has just purchased Timaru private training enterprises
the Aoraki English Language College and Aoraki International College (AIC).

The Polytechnic's chief executive Kay Nelson announced the acquisition last
week, saying the Aoraki Polytechnic was delighted to be involved in a
transition that would see the two long-established providers of
international education join the polytechnic’s already successful
internationally-applied programmes.

Ms Nelson said the polytechnic was keen to increase its offering to
international students, and would be reviewing the international market’s
requirements and providing new and existing programmes to meet that market.
Much of that work would be in partnership with overseas educational
providers.

"I believe many of our quality programmes provide an exciting opportunity to
international students to undertake study in Timaru. I see programmes such
as our respected outdoor education and hospitality programmes appealing to
overseas students."

Aoraki International College director Adrian Kerr said that in the 12 years
since the college was formed in 1998 around 2000 international students had
come through, with the bulk through the English Language School.

Mr Kerr said he was pleased that after 11 years operating the business he
could pass it on to Aoraki Polytechnic to allow the business to grow and
meet its full potential.

US COLLEGES FEEL PINCH DESPITE FEDERAL MONEY

US President Obama's US$40 billion federal investment in tertiary education
has been undermined by individual state funding cuts amounting to more than
that amount.

State support for colleges declined by 1.1 percent in the 2010 fiscal year
from the previous year. What spared higher education from much deeper cuts
was the nearly US$40-billion provided by the federal government through the
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.

Without the stimulus dollars, the decline in state support for higher
education in 2010 would have been 3.5 percent since last year and 6.8
percent over the past two years.

Some states made large cuts in higher education this year even with the
stimulus money. Alabama, Massachusetts, and Vermont all have reduced
spending on colleges by nearly 20 percent since the 2008 fiscal year.

The fiscal situation for higher education may only get worse before the next
budget year begins. In Nevada, for example, Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican,
has asked all state agencies, including public colleges, to submit plans to
reduce spending by 6 percent to 10 percent to offset a projected
US$72-million shortfall.

Nearly 40 states expect revenue shortfalls for the 2011 fiscal year, which
begins in July in all but four states. And about half of the states will
have [10]spent all of their stimulus money for education by the end of the
current fiscal year.

From Eric Felderman at the Chronicle of Higher Education

TEU Tertiary Update is published weekly on Thursdays and distributed
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