Tertiary Update Vol 15 No 26

Tertiary Update Vol 15 No 26 - More Job Cuts at Canterbury University

150 more job cuts at Canterbury University

Canterbury University's decision to cut 150 staff over the next three years is a grave mistake says TEU national president Sandra Grey. Her comments follow an announcement from the university's vice-chancellor Rod Carr that his management team will cut staff numbers by 50 each year for the next three years.

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Mana@Work

TEU's national council will launch a website focused on dignity and respect at work tomorrow. The union hopes it will become a tool to prevent bullying and harassment in tertiary education workplaces. "Every person has the right to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace", says TEU women's vice-president Alex Sims. "We are committed to upholding and protecting this right."

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Bill to restore community voice to polytechnic councils

The Labour Party's Nanaia Mahuta has drafted a private member's bill that would, if passed repeal the government's recent changes to polytechnic councils. In 2009 the government passed law removing staff, student and community representation on polytechnic councils, reducing the size of councils and giving the minister of tertiary education the right to appoint a majority of councillors on each council.

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Joyce plots future Olympic glory

Tertiary Education, Skills, Employment, Economic Development, Science and Sports Innovation Minister Steven Joyce today announced a suite of tertiary education innovations aimed at ensuring future Olympic glory for New Zealand athletes. The innovations include financial incentives for academics whose students go on to win Olympic medals, rewards for institutions whose research supports athletic innovation and a reporting and monitoring system that tracks the athletic progress of students through university or polytechnic study.

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Govt has no data on postgrad funding

The Education and Science Select Committee has reported concern about the potential fall in funding for postgraduate fellowships since 2006, and asked the Minister if there are any plans to increase funding in this area.

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UN Committee warns Government against employment law changes

A report released this weekend by the United Nations Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a direct warning to the New Zealand government that it needs to reconsider employment changes it has signalled it intends to make later this year.

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Other news

The Government is planning changes to the industry training system to boost the number of apprentices in training and increase the support for apprenticeship training, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce announced today. The changes aim to improve the performance of the Government's existing investment in industry training by extending the modern apprenticeship support scheme to all apprentices, regardless of age, clarifying the roles of industry training organisations (ITOs), increasing the performance expected from ITOs, enabling learners to transition easily between workplace based and non-workplace based training and ensuring a sustainable funding regime is in place for results-focused industry training - Steven Joyce

The University of Otago is cutting both its secondary education programme on the Southland campus of the College of Education and the Invercargill graduation ceremony from next year. The decision comes ahead of a review of the entire College of Education, to be held later this year. Pro-vice-chancellor division of humanities Professor Brian Moloughney said that the decision to suspend the one-year full- time education programme next year was based on financial considerations. It currently has 10 students enrolled - Southland Times

Should a professor who talked in class about shooting his students with an AK-47 assault rifle been suspended without pay from his university? An Ohio appeal court doesn't seem to think so, and has ordered Bowling Green State University to give him back pay for the time he was suspended - Inside Higher Ed

U.S. for-profit colleges care more about how much they earn than about their students and need more rules to govern them, according to a U.S. Senate report published on Sunday - Reuters

ENDS

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