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Joyce calls for radical funding changes

Steven Joyce's suggestion yesterday that tertiary funding should be linked to employment outcomes rather than academic outcomes is a dangerous path for the sector. That is the view of TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan.

Mr Joyce, the minister of tertiary education, yesterday told an audience at Victoria University of Wellington that he would like to see tertiary education funding linked to employment outcomes. He suggested this would send a strong signal to students about which qualifications and which institutions offer the best career prospects.

"A big risk in this approach is that institutions will be encouraged to divert funding into qualifications that offer mainly short-term employment prospects for students," said Dr Ryan. "Meanwhile, investment will be diverted away from teaching and research in more 'traditional' areas which may have greater relevance to students’ long-term intellectual development and to this country’s long-term economic and social development".

Mr Joyce also advocated once again his belief that some of the funding currently going to public tertiary education providers should be given to private providers.

"We need to have a look at pricing the subsidies based more on the cost of provision; looking at whether we need different subsidies for different levels of study; for different delivery modes; and rationalising the numbers of funding categories - in England they just have four. Here we have seventeen," said the minister.

"We also have a quaint thing here where you get a different tuition subsidy whether you are a public or private provider - a thing started by the previous government - and on the face of it, it is a distinction that is pretty hard to defend." 

Dr Ryan noted, however, "That a major reason for the – quite minimal – funding differential is that public tertiary institutions invest significantly in long-term research and teaching facilities, such as libraries and lecture halls. They also provide their local communities with a focus for social, cultural, and sporting activities."

"Mr Joyce's suggestion is effectively to take tax payers’ money from public providers to give it to private companies, without any consideration of how or for what it might be used."

The minister gave an extended interview on his speech on National Radio this morning.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Finally, a new ITP MECA


2. Minister foresees ongoing high demand for tertiary education


3. MIT stops work to discuss workload


4. Treasury wanted more austere education budget


5. 34,000 hours to be cut from Massey cleaning contract?


6. Waikato Uni turns away hundreds of students


7. Other news

Finally, a new ITP MECA

The 16-month-long ITP MECA negotiations finally concluded last week, with members voting to ratify a six month collective agreement that sees no changes to the much-disputed core working conditions.

The agreement, which will run until 30 November, agrees to set up a working party to discuss unresolved issues, to be convened by the Partnership Resource Centre, the Department of Labour.  TEU members in the affected polytechnics, as at 4 June, also will receive a one-off lump sum payment of $700.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan says the negotiations have been a long and difficult process, as members battled concerted employer and government attacks on basic employment conditions.

"Because of TEU members' willingness to stand up for their rights, including through unprecedented levels of industrial action, the collective agreement now upholds core work conditions. This is a major achievement for the whole ITP sector," said Dr Ryan.

After a year of dispute, in May the TEU and the six polytechnics – NorthTec, Unitec, Wintec, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, WITT, and Whitireia – went to facilitation. The facilitator effectively recommended the TEU's position, which was that there be no changes to existing conditions and that a working party be established to discuss the employers’ claims around discretionary leave and total teaching days.

TEU national industrial officer Irena Brorens says the settlement is important because the ITP MECA employers did not succeed in reducing core conditions of employment. This was the main issue behind the fractious negotiations and strikes last year.

"TEU members also now have a renewed collective agreement. Before this ratification vote, all TEU members covered by the MECA had been forced on to individual agreements, which was a precarious place for them to be."

While Ms Brorens says it is good to have these negotiations resolved, she believes a $700 pro-rated lump sum payment is inadequate compensation for members who have now not seen a pay rise since 2008. She is also concerned that the offer does not resolve the unfairness of non-union members at BoPP and Unitec having received pay increases last year when union members did not.

Minister foresees ongoing high demand for tertiary education

Steven Joyce, the minister of education, in his recently released cabinet papers outlining his tertiary education initiatives for this year's budget, says that demand for tertiary education is expected to remain high for 2011 and beyond. 

This contradicts his recent public statements that the current boom in students will be short-lived and demand will fall away soon. 

In his cabinet paper Mr Joyce notes:

"The recession has increased demand for tertiary education in 2009 and 2010, and the increased demand is forecast to remain high in 2011 and beyond. At the same time the current funded baseline of places at ITPs and universities decreases from its current level in 2011." 

However, last month Mr Joyce told Parliament's Education and Science Select Committee that demand for tertiary education study is likely to fall away in 2011 as the recession eases. He argued also that tightening access to student loans would reduce demand for tertiary education next year.

TEU president Dr Tom Ryan says that the discrepancy is important because it impacts upon the government's duty to adequately fund public tertiary education.  

"The public impression that Mr Joyce has been giving is that this increase in demand is a short term thing that we can ride out. But his cabinet paper seems to suggest that this is not the case," said Dr Ryan. "If demand is going to remain high, as the minister says in his until recently confidential cabinet paper, then suppressing funding will deny able students the chance to study."

MIT stops work to discuss workload

TEU members at Manukau Institute of Technology will be attending a stop work meeting next week to discuss bargaining claims by the polytechnic aimed at increasing staff workload and working hours provisions.

Three months ago TEU members entered the employment negotiations with a very limited set of their own claims, seeking a two year term and an increase in pay and allowances of 3 percent per annum. By comparison, MIT is seeking significant changes to the existing collective agreement clauses on workloads and hours of work.

MIT wants to increase the number of working hours to a minimum of 75 per fortnight. The employer also wants to make changes to discretionary leave so as to reduce it over time, and to remove quarterly timetabled teaching hour protections and annual teaching day protections.

TEU members are scheduled to hold a stop work meeting next Thursday to discuss their response to these proposals from their employer. They also will be voting on whether to initiate an industrial campaign, if they deem it to be necessary.

TEU branch president Lesley Francey said that members were not happy with the offer as it stood.

"Members feel angry and disappointed that their employer is trying to screw yet more out of them, especially when there are so many new initiatives at MIT already on the go," said Ms Francey. "Why are they not trying to take staff with them to overcome problems we can all agree on, rather than pick an unnecessary fight with us?"

Treasury wanted more austere education budget

Treasury has released its advice on tertiary education spending leading up to this year's budget.

Unsurprisingly, the Treasury papers reveal that it took its usual doctrinaire line against any price adjustment to tuition subsidies or increase in additional funded EFTS places in universities and polytechnics. It did, however, support the new limits on access to student loans.

Treasury argued that a CPI adjustment "would be a direct price increase, for which there is no direct improvement in quantity or standards."

"We understand that the Minister is considering a 2 percent, 2.2 percent (CPI) or a 2.5 percent increase… We consider that there are other, less costly options that could be used to increase the revenue received by institutions."

Treasury's 'less costly' alternative options included relaxing fee regulations further than was already proposed so that institutions could charge higher fees, or applying funding as a performance bonus through the new performance funding system.

Treasury opposed the government's proposal for additional EFTS places in universities and polytechnics. It argued instead that the Tertiary Education Commission could manage demand pressures by reprioritising lower value provision or by relaxing the current 103 percent cap to allow tertiary institutions to take higher numbers of unfunded enrolments.

When considering student loans, Treasury argued that the impact of the government's student support package would be approximately 17,000 fewer people drawing down a student loan and 400 fewer people receiving a student allowance.

It also noted that the student support package has a proportionally higher impact on Māori, Pasifika and Asian students who borrow. While just over 5 percent of borrowers of European/Pakeha ethnicity would be affected, nearly 10 percent of Māori borrowers, 16 percent of Pasifika students, and 20 percent of Asian borrowers would be affected.

34,000 hours to be cut from Massey cleaning contract?

A plan to cut nearly 34,000 hours from the cleaning contract at Massey University has angered staff and students at the university. However, the cleaners' union, the Service and Food Workers Union, is hopeful that Massey may intervene after protests by the cleaners, as well as other staff and students at the university.

From 1 July a new cleaning contractor, OCS Ltd, had been appointed to work at Massey University's campuses in Auckland, Wellington and Palmerston North. SFWU lead organiser Fala Haulangi says staff were shocked and saddened at this.

"The cleaning staff of 100 have been told by the new contractor that the company wishes to reduce the number of hours staff work and move towards 'term time' only employment. This will wreck lives and destroy the workers’ jobs, and result in a dirty and unproductive work environment for staff and students."

Under the proposal, employees’ jobs would be reduced to just 31 weeks guaranteed work a year. Around 400 hours would go from Palmerston North each week, 120 hours would disappear in Auckland, and 158 hours would go from Wellington. A total of 33,900 hours would be cut.

Ms Haulangi says that OCS is not offering affected staff any redundancy compensation. She says the cuts are the result of Massey University changing the previous contract specifications.

The cleaning staff organised a protest last week that was supported by TEU members, other staff and students, and have presented a petition and letters of support to the university. SFWU believes that the university now is concerned about the impact OCS Ltd's cuts might have on other low-paid staff, and on the university as a whole, and so are looking for a solution. SFWU delegates are planning a second meeting with the university in the next week, and are hopeful of a positive outcome.

Waikato Uni turns away hundred of students

The Waikato Times reports that the University of Waikato has turned away 470 students, including 26 high school students, for the second semester which is due to start next week.

The university has reached its maximum 8391 equivalent full-time students, as agreed with the Tertiary Education Commission, and will not take any more enrolments this year. People who failed to get in are being told to try again in 2011.

Waikato University Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford told the Times that the institution has the capacity and the teaching staff to take more students, but was not permitted to do so under the Government cap agreement.

"We would very much like to have accepted all eligible students, but we are restricted in how many new undergraduate students we can take in," Professor Crawford said.

Those who missed out were being directed to polytechnics or wānanga, but Professor Crawford said that many students could still be left in limbo.

"That is a major problem because the polytechnics and the wānanga are also working in a capped numbers environment so they may not have the capacity."

He said priority was to be given to groups including school leavers, Māori students, and those in post-graduate study. The university was also monitoring students whose progression into semester B depended on their marks in semester A.

Central North Island school principals’ association chair Ngaire Harris told the Times that year-13 students now needed to achieve merit and excellence in NCEA level 3.

Other news

The increase in numbers of people on unemployment benefit to 62,085 shows that the recession is not over, according to the CTU. Peter Conway, CTU secretary, says it is important to remember that before the recession there were fewer than 18,000 people on unemployment benefit. The CTU has called on the Government to invest in job-rich programmes, skills development and green jobs. These figures show that more needs to be done.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Steven Joyce, was in Dunedin last week, and whilst there he talked to Dunedin's Channel 9 about the pressures the tertiary sector is currently under. If you have ever wanted to look in to Mr Joyce's eyes in extreme close up, this is the video for you – Channel 9

Universities Australia may lobby the government to raise the cap on government-funded over-enrolments next year. They believe this will help the sector weather a downturn in international students. While government funding rates for domestic students are well below the fees universities charge international students, advocates say it would cushion parts of the sector from falling international revenues by providing extra cash flow and students – The Australian

Iraq's universities were once among the best-regarded in the Middle East, but subsequently were cut off from the international scholarly community during the isolation of the Saddam Hussein era, then devastated by the American-led invasion. Now a new US program, consisting of partnerships between five American institutions and five universities in Iraq, is finally seeking to rebuild its university expertise – The Chronicle of Higher Education  

The University of Alabama may be ruing getting into a fight with labour activism expert Glenn Feldman. The university closed a training centre that the tenured labour historian ran. Convinced that they withdrew support — and now are trying to drive him out — because they have a pro-business bias, the professor has come at his bosses with two lawsuits, a faculty grievance, and a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint. He also mobilized members of the United Steelworkers to swamp the facsimile machines in the administration's central office, and has sent the entire State Legislature an e-mail message accusing the University of Alabama system's administration of misusing state funds and victimizing him because he is Hispanic. Along the way, Mr. Feldman helped establish a chapter of the American Association of University Professors on his campus — getting himself elected as its president — and persuaded the state conference of the AAUP to take up his cause – The Chronicle of Higher Education  

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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