TEU Tertiary Update, Vol 13 No 10

Future Focus tells young to get back into education

Social welfare minister Paula Bennett's proposed new welfare programme, Future Focus, will have implications for the tertiary education sector.

Minister Bennett proposes the removal of negotiation from Job Seeker Agreements and Youth Activity Plans for young people receiving the Independent Youth Benefit (IYB).

This change will give Work and Income greater flexibility to direct beneficiaries to undertake education, work-related activities, or training where this is appropriate, without requiring the beneficiaries’ agreement. For young people on the IYB, Ms Bennett says, case managers will use this power to focus strongly on education, in line with the government’s current Youth Guarantee policy.

Placing young beneficiaries in tertiary education without their agreement will especially place further pressure on polytechnics and wānanga, which have recently been directed by the minister of education to lift their completion rates and pass rates.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan criticised Ms Bennett’s plan.

"Due to the combined effect of ongoing enrolment caps and recent funding cutbacks, we already are seeing thousands of potential students being turned away from the tertiary sector. It doesn’t make sense for more young people to be channelled towards our institutions when it is likely they too will be turned away."

"Some of them may even be on the benefit because there were no places available when they earlier tried to get into a tertiary programme. The minister’s plan will work only if the student cap is removed and necessary funding is restored to the sector." 

Ms Bennett is also proposing an exemption from part-time work-test obligations for domestic purposes benefit (DBP) sole parents whose youngest child is six or over, and who study full-time at level 4 or above. Additionally, she will introduce a new $500 loan to support DPB sole parents to study at level 4 or above. The basis for this additional loan is that sole parents in study face higher study costs compared to those without childcare responsibilities.

The loan will not be available for those who are still receiving grand-parented Training Incentive Allowance for their course. Nor will the loan be available for postgraduate diplomas, postgraduate certificates, or bachelors with honours, masters and doctorate degrees. The minister argues it is appropriate that people studying for these advanced qualifications fund their own study.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Alternative Economic Strategy gathers union feedback


2. Joyce to announce 80 new councillors


3. Ministry and commission prepare to identify pass rates


4. Tai Poutini cuts jobs as government funding drops


5. Other news

Alternative Economic Strategy gathers union feedback

CTU Economist and Policy Director, Dr Bill Rosenberg, is currently engaged in nationwide discussion with union members on how to create an economy that works for everyone. The CTU paper on an alternative economic strategy is kick-starting a conversation across communities about principles and initiatives which would enable the New Zealand economy to deliver the outcomes New Zealanders want.

"We accept that efficiency, productivity and return on investment are vital characteristics of a functioning and effective economy. But the principles have to be about people," said Rosenberg. The principles outlined in the CTU paper include fairness, participation, security, improving living standards, and sustainability.

Many of the policy proposals in the alternative economic strategy aim to close the widening gap between rich and poor, such as wages that give workers a fair share of the growth in the economy, and redefining wealth and value in a way to sustain the planet for future generations.

"We are seeking a coherent alternative to current policy principles and institutional structures which will improve the position of working people and New Zealand as a whole. We believe a new foundation must be built on three pillars: sustainable economic development; decent work and a good life; and voice, by which we mean real participation by people in decisions in the workplace, economy and community," continued Rosenberg.

The numerous policy proposals in the document cover a range of issues including economic development, international economic relationships, taxation, the environment, productivity and employment.



Listen to Dr Rosenberg talking about the strategy on this podcast and read the executive summary or entire strategy here.

Joyce to announce 80 new councillors

Minister of tertiary education, Steven Joyce, is preparing to name four new councillors, including the chairs and deputy-chairs, to each of New Zealand's twenty institutes of technology and polytechnics. These ministerial appointees will assume an effective majority on each of the twenty councils, which will all be reduced to eight members each from 1 May.

The big losers in this exercise are staff, students, local hapu, local businesses and unions, who in most cases will lose the representation they have held on polytechnic councils for the past two decades or longer.

This continues the government's attempt to assert greater control over the polytechnic sector in order to improve its productivity while also reduce its expenditure.

Mr Joyce told TV's The Nation programme last Sunday:

"We spend a huge amount in tertiary education in this country, well above the OECD average and more than Australia does, as a proportion of our total economy, so we are big spenders in tertiary education, and there are some issues in that… there's definitely room to improve the outcomes for students and for the country, in terms of ensuring more people pass more courses and quality more, and my challenge is to do that without any more money."

Mr Joyce argued that polytechnics as a subsector have had some challenges over the years, and signalled that he had a particular focus on regional polytechnics.

"They have lots of assets, they're very expensive to maintain, they’ve struggled with performance, some of them, not all of them, and of course many of them are in regional areas of the country where they're not getting a lot of students."

Mr Joyce neither prescribed nor ruled out merging or cutting polytechnics when questioned on The Nation whether there are too many polytechnics in New Zealand.

Ministry and commission prepare to identify pass rates

The Ministry of Education and the Tertiary Education Commission are aligning their work programmes to allow greater reporting on completion and pass rates at tertiary education providers. 

A fortnight ago the chief executive of the commission, Professor Roy Sharp, said that from July this year the commission will be publishing information about the educational performance of universities, institutes of technology and polytechnics, wānanga, and some private training establishments.

The educational information that is due to be published for each organisation will cover rates like qualification completion, course completion, student progression to further study, and student retention.

Meanwhile the ministry is currently seeking feedback on its paper, Proposed Changes to the 2011 Single Data Return. It says that the proposed changes will improve the quality of data received through the single data return process and, in particular, the tertiary dducation organisation performance information used in applying a performance-linked funding mechanism and public reporting of TEOs’ educational performances.

The minister of tertiary education has placed significant emphasis recently on the need for tertiary institutions to improve their retention and pass rates. Last Sunday Mr Joyce identified the need for more focus on pastoral care.

"I've seen institutions where they have literally almost gone around and got the person out of bed if they're not turning up for courses, and I think we should encourage that actually, that sort of involvement with your students that sort of helping along… we should be providing that."

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says measuring pass rates is fine, but the minister needs to deliver a more comprehensive plan, and funding, for pastoral care:

"As funding cuts have taken effect across the sector, pastoral care has been hard hit. For example, some institutions have cut right back on their counsellors, so students now have less chance of getting the professional advice they need. Rather than just counting academic success and performance, the minister needs to actively ensure that guidelines and funding are there for student-support systems."

Tai Poutini cuts jobs as government funding drops

The Greymouth Star reports that three senior managers at Tai Poutini Polytechnic have been made redundant. The jobs losses are the result of phase one of a reorganisation of the polytechnic, which will see the creation of five new positions and the disestablishment of six. Phase two, which focuses on heads of department positions, is likely to see the creation of ten new positions and the disestablishment of fifteen existing positions. Phase three, which has not been initiated yet, will look at programme co-ordinator and administration positions.

The polytechnic is attributing the job losses and restructuring to a drop in government funding. Chief executive Paul Wilson told The Star that the job losses were a direct result of a $2.5 million cut in funding from next financial year.

"It is a reality we have to face if we want to survive, and it is a way of going forward." Every other polytechnic was going through the same change, he said.

"We had to make sure we had the best people in the positions, and the same will happen shortly with the next tier of management. My role as chief executive is to get the best people in the right positions for good education delivery."

TEU organiser Phil Dodds said hat he was hopeful that phase three of reorganisation, which was the one most likely to impact on TEU members, would see a reassignment of roles rather than job losses.

Other news

The value of wages will decline 0.5 percent in the 12 months through March 2011 as inflation exceeds salary growth, and unemployment remains elevated, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research’s consensus forecast of ten financial and economic agencies. Wages are expected to grow 1.9 percent this year, down from 2.2 percent in the previous survey, and lagging behind the expected inflation 2.4 percent for the same period - BusinessWire

As universities across Britain grapple with the challenge of making financial savings, a row has broken out in the school of arts and humanities at King's College London, where academics claim the college is targeting staff whose work doesn't fit a vision for the future that is based on economic, rather than academic, ideals - The Guardian

British universities should compensate for a future dearth of government funding in the UK by bidding for the billions of dollars Barack Obama has pledged for research, David Lammy has said. The higher education minister said on 12 March that "the huge financial stimulus for US research that President Obama has announced" could be either a "threat or an opportunity ... British universities can lament the fact that we can't afford a cash injection on that scale. Or they can, as I've repeatedly urged, try to get a piece of the action." - Financial Times via Times Higher Education Supplement

More than 150,000 scholarships will begin to flow to Australian tertiary students from next month after the government and opposition resolved a deadlock over the treatment of rural students. Education Minister Julia Gillard said that more than 100,000 students would be better off under the changes, by receiving either a larger Youth Allowance or the payment for the first time because of parental income test arrangements - The Australian

The University and College Union says that the British prime minister has to make good his promise not to allow education to become a victim of the recession. This followed news that forty three colleges face adult learning budget cuts of 25 percent in the next academic year. Around 7,000 jobs are at risk in the further education sector, and 130,000 people risk missing out on a college place - University and College Union

© Scoop Media