TEU Tertiary Update, Vol 13 No 14

Student fees leap up and GST hike still to come

Statistics New Zealand reported that education prices rose 4.8 percent in the March 2010 quarter. This is the largest quarterly increase for ten years. The most significant upward contribution came from higher university fees (up 6.1 percent), which reflects higher course fees and new compulsory levies introduced by some universities to cover the costs of providing existing services to students.

Fees for the other education classes other than primary and secondary education rose 23.4 percent, reflecting a reduction in government subsidies for adult and community education courses.

NZUSA co-President Pene Delaney said these increases are the direct result of continued underfunding in the tertiary sector.

"Increasing fees without any corresponding increase in government funding will mean students will again face costs rising higher than inflation. In stark contrast, the Australian government has substantially boosted its investment into both universities and student support in its last Budget," says Mr Delaney.

Mr Delaney warns that further increases in the cost of tertiary education are on the way when the government's proposed increases to GST flow through to student fees.

Prime Minister John Key was asked at Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference whether student allowances would get the same GST adjustment compensation package as welfare benefits. Mr Delaney is worried that Mr Key responded that he "hasn’t looked at that". Tertiary education minister Steven Joyce has also said that he is not planning any changes to student allowances.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Weltec saves money on staff to get strong financial result


2. Budget to cut student loan access and raise fees


3. Its official: govt not funding student boom


4. Indigenous rights treaty sets education goals


5. Corruption and Oz universities


6. Other news

Weltec saves money on staff to get strong financial result

Weltec celebrated a 'stellar' financial result for the previous year this week with the release of its Annual Report for 2009. Chairperson Peter Preston noted that total operating income of $49.3m was $1.4m above budget, primarily from higher revenue from student fees. Meanwhile the polytechnic also significantly reduced its operating expenditure, with personnel expenditure of $26m being under budget and $1m below the 2008 result.

The result of this increase in equivalent full time students (EFTS) and decrease in spending on staff was that the operating cost for each EFTS was down $600 on last year. The EFTS to academic staff ratio rose from 21 students per academic staff member to 24 students per staff member. TEU National secretary Sharn Riggs said polytechnics last year were challenged by the State Services Commission to show productivity increases before awarding pay rises to staff. 

"Weltec is one example of many where productivity increases are evident. It’s time staff are compensated for that increased productivity," said Ms Riggs.

Weltec's chief executive Linda Sissons noted in the report that the fall in expenditure on staff was not a one-off but part of a deliberate strategy to reduce costs:

"Our operating expenses per EFTS fell as we had strong controls on expenditure in place. Other efficiencies included improving our academic staff to EFTS ratio…To facilitate containing personnel costs, Human Resources focused on improving management reports on: personnel costs; staff leave liability; and FTE numbers."

TEU organiser Phil Dyhrberg said that staff at Weltec were experiencing increased workloads as the polytechnic simultaneously cut its costs and took on more EFTS.

“A short term effort to make the books look healthy is having long term consequences for staff,” said Mr Dyhrberg.

Dr Sissons also noted that the polytechnic has used its international students to generate an extra $700,000 of revenue despite taking the same number of international students as last year.

Budget to cut student loan access and raise fees

The government launched an attack over the weekend on the current funding system for student fees and support, with prime minister John Key saying there needed to be more "respect for taxpayer funding".

Meanwhile minister of tertiary education Steven Joyce told TVNZ's Q&A programme this week that the government was considering limiting the period undergraduate students could access interest-free student loans, possibly to six or seven years. He also said he was considering implementing a two-year stand-down period before new permanent residents can borrow from the government to fund tertiary studies here.

Mr Joyce also told Q&A viewers that next month's budget could allow tertiary institutions to raise student fees in some of the more expensive courses beyond the existing five percent fee maxima.

"I'm looking at whether we should retain the maxima for those expensive courses, or whether there perhaps should be a percentage increase that's similar right across all courses, regardless of whether they're expensive or inexpensive," Mr Joyce said.

The Medical Students’ Association warned that these two changes potentially mean an increase in debt and a reduction in the accessibility to medicine for those from less advantaged backgrounds. A cap on lifetime undergraduate study could also affect the significant number of postgraduate medical students who may need up to 10 years of undergraduate education to complete their training.

Mr Joyce then promised a wider review of other course fees following the budget:

"What we are going to do once we've made some initial steps is to actually go and have a really good look at university course pricing and tertiary institution pricing, because they were last looked at in the mid 90s and some of them are getting highly distortionary relative to the actual cost of providing the course."

It’s official: govt not funding student boom

Radio New Zealand reported Tertiary Education Commission figures last week that show universities and polytechnics carried $33 million worth of unsubsidised students last year.

The students were all enrolled above the 103 percent EFTS cap imposed on individual tertiary institutions. 

The commission's figures show Waikato and Massey universities and Tairāwhiti Polytechnic exceeded their subsidised enrolments by more than six percent.

Nelson-Marlborough Institute of Technology came close to six percent, while the University of Canterbury and the Southern Institute of Technology were more than four percent.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says the government caps have not adequately taken into account either a baby boom of young adults currently passing through tertiary education or the increase in students as a result of the recession.

"The current EFTS cap system means either potential students miss out on the chance to study through no fault of their own, or institutions, and ultimately staff, carry the unfunded workload that comes from extra students."

Education Directions has data on individual universities, wānanga, polytechnics and OTEPs.  Its chief executive Dave Guerin believes that despite the government's stated hard line on breaches of the EFTS cap it is likely that institutions will work out individually negotiated solutions with the commission:

"The final result will be a matter of negotiation, and negotiations will have been going on for some time, as this trend would have been apparent back in 2009. Many ITPs had money clawed back in 2008, and this was used to fund extra provision in 2010."

Indigenous rights treaty sets education goals

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which New Zealand's minister of Māori affairs Dr Pita Sharples signed earlier this week gives strong support to Māori efforts in building a Māori tertiary education system.  It also argues for the need to remove biases from New Zealand's existing tertiary education system that discriminate against potential Māori students.

Article 14 of the treaty states indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages and that indigenous individuals, particularly children, have the right to all levels and forms of education of the State without discrimination. Article 21 expands upon this right saying that the state should improve the economic and social conditions of indigenous people so as to improve their right to education.

Article 15 says indigenous peoples have the right to have their cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations appropriately reflected in education.

Kāhui kaumātua for TEU, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, applauds Aotearoa New Zealand signing the declaration and says it is a momentous event in the nation's history.

"The international stage is set with the signing. However now the real mahi begins at home to clarify Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the context of the declaration."

"Kei a wai te mouri tāngata whenua?  Do Māori or the Crown have the role of being the kaitiaki of Te Tiriti?  Or is this shared? Can the declaration be another pathway for continued and improved interrelationships between mouri tāngata whenua and the Crown?"

Corruption and Oz universities

The Western Australia Crime and Corruption Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith QC, has warned Curtin University's senior managers that universities in Australia are at significant risk of misconduct and corruption.

Mr Roberts-Smith has now talked to all Western Australian universities and the Western Australia branch of the NTEU with the same message. Mr Smith said the main risks for universities included the learning process, with cheating, plagiarism, soft marking, favouritism; Research in falsifying results, favouritism in employing research staff, pecuniary interest, undeclared conflicts of interest and misuse of research funds; Financial processes which involve fraud and accepting bribes, gifts or other benefits; Staff behaviour such as falsifying credentials, plagiarism, favouritism, accepting bribes, gifts or benefits, pecuniary interest, undeclared conflict of interest and abuse of confidential information; Corporate behaviour in failing to take action if wrong doing is reported and collusion; and the behaviour between universities and private business. This can involve a lack of transparency in and evaluation of outsourcing and contracts and commercial activities, and a lack of market testing for services.

The Commission is set up to investigate misconduct, but is taking a broader approach to their jurisdiction and believes it to include such things as bullying. Mr Roberts-Smith argues that universities ignore and cover up issues of concern, victimise whistleblowers and sanction bullying, and a have willingness to deal with misconduct allegations against junior and non-academic staff but not senior academic staff.  He also suggests that "some universities are more careful about taking action to protect their reputation than managing misconduct".

Other news

Dr Colin Tukuitonga chief executive at the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs has challenged Massey University to establish itself as New Zealand's first "Pacific University of Aotearoa" – Massey University

It has been reported in the minutes of the CPIT Council (for February) that CPIT and NMIT are discussing collaboration and the development of a joint Academic Board. Chief Executives of both institutions are "drafting a memorandum of understanding" for consideration by their respective councils. It is proposed that the next step will be a "scoping exercise to determine the type of collaboration".

Also at CPIT, students will now be subject to "satisfactory progress" requirements to continue their studies, which will be specified for all programmes. Students can also be subject to "Non Engagement Cancellation", whereby the institution can "cancel a student's enrolment based on informal withdrawal or them never having attended".

An extraordinary literary "whodunnit" over the identity of a mystery reviewer who savaged works by some of Britain's leading academics on the Amazon website has culminated in a top historian admitting that the culprit was, in fact, his wife. – The Guardian

SIT chairperson Graham Cooney said the ministerial selection of council members could be abused in the future.  "The ministerial appointment of the chair and deputy chair could be used at some point by a political party for the wrong reasons," he said – Southland Times

University of Otago vice-chancellor Prof Sir David Skegg has urged the Government to invest more in universities, saying New Zealand institutions are likely to lose high calibre staff and students to Australia if it does not – Otago Daily Times

NZBioscience has reported on the recent Australian Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia case that decided whether a university or its employee owned an invention.

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