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Ominous signs for 2010 budget

Prime Minister John Key is continuing to warn the New Zealanders not to expect any new investment in their tertiary education system from this afternoon's budget. He told the Sunday Star Times that the government already spends "an unusually high amount on tertiary education by OECD standards as a percentage of GDP".

The prime minister also warned Victoria University vice chancellor Pat Walsh that:

"Our universities already receive the lion's share of direct government funding in terms of tertiary education."

Mr Key intimated that some money could be shifted within the sector, creating winners and losers.

"The government's focus is on improving the quality of expenditure and getting more bang for the taxpayers' buck. As part of the upcoming Budget, we will move money away from areas of poor value spending."

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says that the budget needs to view tertiary education as a strategic investment, not an unwanted cost.

"Tertiary education has the capacity, if well funded, to move people into new jobs and to move New Zealand’s economy in newly sustainable directions. We can choose, like other strong economies and communities, to learn our way out of troubles that were not our own making. But we need to overcome the current underfunding."

However, he warns that the worst effects of the cuts of the 2009 budget are still yet to be felt, As well as the graduated clawbacks announced last year on numerous small budget lines, there are several big items that are yet to impact fully..

"For instance, the adult education cuts that hit secondary schools so hard last year will be mirrored with ACE cuts in the tertiary sector this year," said Dr Ryan. "Likewise, the Tertiary Education Student Achievement Component funding reduces by $27 million this coming financial year, to be followed by $46 million reductions in each of the following two years. The cuts in Tripartite salary funding in universities also will start to kick in from mid-year, to a total of $55 million by 2013. ”

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Facilitation calls for no change in working conditions


2. Canterbury's CPIT increases staff student ratio


3. MIT wants staff to work evenings and weekends


4. Budget needs to address pay rates


5. Other news

Facilitation calls for no change in working conditions

The Employment Relations Authority has recommended no change to working conditions at the six polytechnics covered by the ITP multi-employer collective employment agreement (MECA). Authority member Marija Urlich, who presided over the facilitation, issued her recommendation last week, following two days of facilitation hearings. The polytechnics covered by the MECA are NorthTec, Unitec, Wintec, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, WITT, and Whitireia Community Polytechnic.

Ms Urlich recommends that a collective agreement be put in place for one year from 30 May 2010, without any change to conditions, and that a working party be set up during the term of the agreement to investigate discretionary leave and teaching days.  She has not made any recommendation about salary increases.

The recommendation reinforces what TEU was saying throughout last year’s difficult negotiations, which is that the MECA employers have not properly utilised the discretionary leave clauses in the expired MECA.

TEU advocate Irena Brorens says the recommendation of a one-year collective agreement with no loss of conditions is significant, given the employers’ attempts over the past year to significantly change leave entitlements and teaching day protections. 

"Having a collective agreement in place is crucial – we have already seen one of the MECA employers trying to employ current members on lesser conditions, and employ new staff on much lesser conditions, such as the statutory minimum 4 weeks leave and minimum sick leave provisions. A renewed collective will put a stop to that."

Ms Brorens says the next steps should be to get back in discussion with the employer group about the recommendation.

"Although the recommendation is non-binding on the parties, we would expect that six large public institutions would accept the recommendation of the Employment Relations Authority. So we need to discuss with them the next steps forward."

Canterbury's CPIT increases staff student ratio

The Christchurch Polytechnic and Institute of Technology (CPIT) has secured a huge surplus for the year by raising student numbers but not hiring staff to cover the increased workload, said Tertiary Education Union organiser Phil Dodds.

CPIT announced an $8.5 million surplus in its annual report for 2009, which it achieved primarily through an 8 percent increase in domestic equivalent full time students (EFTS) and a 17 percent increase in international EFTS.

At the same time, the total number of staff fell slightly between 2008 and 2009, meaning that the ratio of equivalent full time students to full time teacher equivalents rose from 14.4:1 to 15.6:1.

Mr Dodds says the polytechnic cannot continue to pile more students and workload on staff and also maintain the same quality of education.

"CPIT staff have worked really hard during the recession to give Canterbury people the chance they need to learn new skills and develop new opportunities. That has resulted in significant workload pressures for both teaching and general staff. We expect that the new CPIT management will recognise their success and productivity."

Despite this increase in the EFTS-FTE ratio, student satisfaction remained high, with 92 percent of sampled students reporting they were satisfied or very satisfied with the teaching.

Outgoing chief executive Neil Barns praised teaching and allied staff for “continuing to demonstrate a strong sense of professionalism, pride and commitment.”

"As 2010 approaches, CPIT must continue to increase its productivity without compromising on educational quality," he said.

MIT wants staff to work evenings and weekends

TEU members at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) are preparing for another arduous set of negotiations with their employer this year, after MIT revealed a set of claims that aim to increase teaching hours and duty hours.

Branch president Lesley Francey says TEU members at MIT have rejected the employer claims and are preparing to campaign, as they did last year, to retain their existing work conditions.

TEU members are entering the negotiations with a very limited set of their own claims, seeking only a one year term and an increase to pay and some allowances of 3 percent. By comparison, MIT is seeking significant changes to the existing collective employment agreement clauses on workload and hours of work.

The institution's claims include changing the 835 hours of timetabled teaching hours for academics from a 'maximum workload' to a 'guideline', increasing the number of duty hours per week from 34 hours per week Monday to Friday to 37.5 hours per week Monday to Saturday, and removing the restrictions around working after 5pm.

In a claim that is reminiscent of the ITP MECA negotiations, MIT is also looking to change the requirements around how discretionary leave can be used. 

Ms Francey says that MIT's proposals are bad for students' quality of education. 

"Academic staff need time to provide advice, support and pastoral care to students.   They also need to deal with administration, marking and the professional development requirements of their job. There is already flexibility in the collective agreement which allows for lecturers to teach evenings and weekends by agreement and to my knowledge that has worked well to date."

Budget needs to address pay rates

TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs says that if the government wants to hold onto its tertiary teachers and researchers, it needs back up its rhetoric about closing the salary gap between New Zealand and Australia.

In preparation for today's budget, TEU provided journalists with a comparison of salary rates between Australia’s mid-ranked University of Newcastle and a New Zealand equivalent, Massey University. It showed Massey University staff across the board were receiving significantly less than their Newcastle counterparts. For instance, the minimum stating rate for a Massey lecturer is NZ$62,992 while a Newcastle lecturer will start on no less than AU$72,909 (NZ$90,818). The Massey senior lecturer starting rate is NZ$78,941 while the Newcastle equivalent is AU$89,314 (NZ$111,320). For starting professors, the gap between the two countries is over NZ$50,000.

"Tax cuts won't solve this pay differential," said Ms Riggs. "The pay gap, as for other jobs, is upwards of 25 percent and rising. A five percent cut to the top tax bracket cannot close such a pay gap. All it will do is exacerbate inequality and encourage underfunding important public services like education."

"Last year the government announced its intention to cut $55 million of funding that had been promised to help lift university salaries. The government needs to lift pay, not fiddle with taxes, if it wants to meet its goal of closing the pay gap with Australia," said Ms Riggs.

Other news

Two University of Otago general staff departments are the latest to come under scrutiny as the institution looks to streamline operations and cut costs. A university spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that reviews were under way for Uniprint and the human resources and payroll service. Human resources and payroll has about 70 staff, while Uniprint, which provides in-house printing and copying services, has about 26 – Otago Daily Times

New Zealand universities have launched a programme to further enhance their working relationships with the business sector by establishing a new scheme dedicated to creating stronger university-business partnerships. The project will allow businesses better access to the wealth of research and consultancy services provided by universities around the country. - Voxy

The private provider New Zealand Tertiary College was forced by TEC to close its enrolments for early childhood education qualifications in April this year. This move sent shockwaves through the early childhood sector, where employers are already struggling to meet the government-mandated qualified early childhood education teacher percentages - New Zealand Tertiary College

New Zealand’s first Tertiary High School, the School of Secondary-Tertiary Studies, is to be officially opened tomorrow. The school, which is a collaboration between MIT and a consortium of Counties Manukau secondary schools, aims to provide a seamless pathway into tertiary education from Year 11 - Manukau Institute of Technology

A Ministry of Education study into the economic and social benefits of diplomas and certificates has found that Level 1 to 3 tertiary certificates are of most benefit to people with no or low school qualifications and are best seen as a pathway to higher levels of study, but that Level 4 certificates have better economic outcomes than school qualifications, particularly for men – Ministry of Education

A study by the Ministry of Education into the academic performance of first year bachelor students at universities has found that high performing school students from sole-Pasifika families and high performing school students from ethnic groups other than European showed lower levels of university performance than other higher-achieving school students – Ministry of Education

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his latest proposed budget on Friday and it doesn't propose cuts (it actually includes restoration of funds) for the state's three higher education systems. The governor's proposals may reflect a growing consensus in the state that cuts to higher education have been debilitating. However, the governor's budget plan also includes such measures as the complete elimination of the state's major welfare program and of the main program to provide state subsidised child care – Inside Higher Ed

Lecturers at the University of Oxford will have to compete for "merit payments" if a new career-progression scheme is adopted. Under the proposals - the fruit of five years of consultations - the title of reader would also be phased out and internal promotions to professorships would cease - Times Higher Education Supplement

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

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