TEU Tertiary Update Vol 13 No 6

WHAT FUTURE FOR EQUITY FUNDING?

Tertiary Education Union national president Dr Tom Ryan is concerned that equity funding which the Tertiary Education Commission currently provides to institutions with Māori, Pasifika and disabled students may not be renewed, or may be phased out in this year's budget.

The funding, which was introduced 10 years ago, provides institutions with $133 for each Mā ori or Pasifika EFTS studying towards a diploma, $320 for a degree, and $444 for a postgraduate qualification. It also provides $28 for each student EFTS with a disability.

The Tertiary Education Commission states that equity funding helps tertiary education institutions to improve equity of access and achievement for Māori students, Pasifika students, and students with disabilities. Its purpose is to provide additional support for TEIs to improve participation, retention, completion, and progression.

The money currently is used in a range of ways by the various institutions. For instance, the University of Auckland's Tūakana Programme links tuākana (senior Māori students) with teina (new students), providing targeted assistance, mentoring and support to the teina. The university notes that, overall, participants in the Tuākana Programme have significantly higher retention and pass rates than those who do not participate.

The government's 2009 tertiary education budget promised that additional savings could be made by reducing or cutting small items. Some were introduced last year and others will come on stream this year and in 2011.

"The current round of equity funding expires this year," said Dr Ryan. "People working in tertiary education are looking for some assurance that, given its importance and success to date, it will continue."

"The government recently has been expressing concerns over retention and success rates in tertiary education. Hopefully the Minister will decide that the equity fund has proved its worth and so should be continued ."

ALSO IN TERTIARY UPDATE THIS WEEK:

1. Hei Tauira tells Māori success stories
2. Students rally to defence of their associations
3. General staff at University of Auckland seek fair pay
4. UK wants more two-year degrees
5. Fees don't buy quality

HEI TAUIRA TELLS MāORI SUCCESS STORIES

Janinka Greenwood and Lynne-Harata Te Aika from the University of Canterbury's College of Education have produced a guide that investigates tauira, exemplars, of success for Māori in tertiary education.

Published by Ako Aotearoa, Hei Tauira: Teaching and Learning for Success for Māori in Tertiary Settings highlights the key factors to be considered in fostering success for Māori in tertiary settings. Hei Tauira looks at four tertiary education programmes in different parts of New Zealand that are seen to be largely successful by students, by the Māori community, and by the institution itself.

From those exemplars the authors identify five overarching principles that promote Māori success in tertiary education. Those principles include: institutional and iwi support; the integration of Māori and iwi values and protocols; the involvement of suitably qualified leaders and staff; development of effective teaching and learning strategies; and proactive and strategic removal of barriers to study.

The report notes that much previous research about Māori achievement in education has focused on the under-achievement of Māori, highlighting a gap between what is achieved by the population as a whole and what is achieved by Māori.

"While this may be a current reality, for it to change we need to know more about what success is like from a Māori point of view, and what factors promote it."

TEU National President Dr Tom Ryan says that there are a lot of good ideas and examples that policy makers can draw on from this report.

"More needs to be done to support staff with professional development and leadership opportunities. It's obvious also that we need to be reducing, not resurrecting, barriers that prevent Mā ori from getting into and succeeding in tertiary education."

STUDENTS RALLY TO DEFENCE OF THEIR ASSOCIATIONS

Student associations around the country have launched a campaign to stop the passage of a Roger Douglas-sponsored bill that proposes to remove universal membership of student associations

The Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill, sponsored by the Act Party and introduced by Roger Douglas, had its first reading in September last year and was passed by 64 votes to 58 to be forwarded to the Education and Science Select Committee.

The Bill will make membership of student associations voluntary, a change from the current legislative framework, with students themselves making a decision on whether their association is voluntary or compulsory.

NZUSA (the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations) says research shows that students in general do not support the Bill, and importantly, that there had been no groundswell of opposition to the current legislative framework from students.

"Rather the Bill seems to be another means to push the political agenda of a particular political party, instead of a response to real concerns by students," said NZUSA co-president David Do.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says that at the many campuses where students have chosen compulsory student membership, their associations offer crucial services, welfare support, advocacy, counselling, sporting and cultural facilities.

"All these services and facilities add to the well-being not just of the students but of the entire tertiary education community."

"The other crucial service those students' associations with compulsory membership offer students is democratic representation. Tertiary institutions are democratic communities and it is important that students have a means to have their voice heard in those communities."

GENERAL STAFF AT U AUCKLAND SEEK FAIR PAY

General Staff at the University of Auckland have launched a campaign to replace their current performance pay system with a fairer pay system that recognises professional development and experience.

Vice-president of the University of Auckland TEU branch, Cerian Wagstaff, says that evidence shows so-called performance pay undermines workplace teamwork and adds to stress. "Staff shouldn’t have to compete with each other to get the pay rises they generally deserve."

The University of Auckland introduced a performance pay system for general staff in 1993. Today, Auckland remains the only university in New Zealand with a purely performance pay system for general staff. At other universities, general staff have models that incorporate annual increments and recognition of experience, loyalty and knowledge.

"TEU surveyed general staff members in 2007 to find out what workplace-related issues most concerned them,” said Ms Wagstaff. "More than three quarters of the general staff involved in the survey said that they were unhappy with the performance pay system."

TEU and other unions on campus are working to replace the system of performance pay with a fair method of remuneration that encourages cooperation and reflects the way work is actually done in a university environment. The unions’ proposed model for general staff is consistent with the academic staff remuneration model and will offer staff annual increments and the opportunity to progress through professional development.

UK GOVERNMENT WANTS MORE TWO-YEAR DEGREES

British universities secretary Lord Mandelson says an expansion of fast-track two-year degree courses would ease the funding crisis in higher education.

However, critics say he is neglecting the need for students to earn money during the three-month summer break and for academics to carry out research in that time.

Shorter, more intensive courses would lower student support costs and force institutions to use their resources more economically in the face of budget cuts, Lord Mandelson claimed.

The two-year programmes would cover the same content as the traditional degree. Students would have brief holidays at Christmas and Easter, and the usual three-month summer break would be contracted to two weeks. Those who go to university having just turned 18 could graduate before they reach 20.

A spokesman for Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said: “If the outcomes are to be comparable with the two-year degree, if actually completed within two calendar years, it will be an extremely high-pressure qualification that would be suitable only for very particular kinds of student.”

Lord Mandelson claimed that the shorter degrees would be better for students. “When their objectives and outcomes are clearly defined, and when they are taught well and properly resourced, there is no sense at all in which these alternatives should be seen as inferior to three-year equivalents,” he said.

The British University and College Union says that under the Bologna Declaration, to which Britain is a signatory, degrees must last a minimum of three years if students want to do postgraduate studies overseas. It also says two-year degrees could increase staff workload, undermine research, and exacerbate funding cuts.

From Joanna Sugden at The Times

FEES DON'T BUY QUALITY

A report from the New Zealand Ministry of Education argues that the size of student fees is a poor indicator of institutional quality.

Comparing university tuition fees with PBRF performance, released this week by the Ministry, concludes that there is a positive association between the relative domestic tuition fees of a bachelors-level course and the relative quality of research at that university, but it was very weak. Therefore, if students inferred quality from the relative price of a course they may have incorrectly assumed higher price means higher quality.

The weak association was likely a result of different price strategies at the universities during the 1990s, with some universities setting fees with the objective of maintaining affordability for students.

The report argues that, if price is a poor indicator of institutional quality, the public availability of a wider set of performance measures may help the decision-making-process of students.

"Recently, the Government has signalled an intention to publish a wider suite of performance measures at the provider level, potentially including measures such as completion rates. If done appropriately, these measures could help remove the necessity for students to infer quality from price and also present a more balanced picture of university performance. This in turn would aid the student decision-making process."

However, TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says that, rather than introducing more measures, standards and monitoring, the Ministry could better promote quality by addressing underfunding across the system.

----

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, email: stephen.day@teu.ac.nz

© Scoop Media