More importantly however, the agreement does not contain any changes to existing working conditions for staff at the polytechnic.

“Academics at many polytechnics around the rest of the country are under pressure from their employer to give up leave, work longer hours and less social hours,” said TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs. “It’s great to see an employer who recognises the fact that work can be done effectively by trusting members to do their job well, rather than wanting to micro-manage their working conditions.”

Ministry of Education statistics show the average surplus as a percentage of revenue at public tertiary education providers climbing dramatically from 1.9 percent in 2006 to 5.2 percent last year.

In 2006 public tertiary education providers made a combined surplus of $66 million on revenue of $3.5 billion. Last year the same institutions made a combined surplus of $280 million on revenue of $4.4 billion.

Public tertiary institutions are supposed to meet a benchmark surplus of 3 percent of revenue each year. By exceeding that benchmark by a further 2.2 percent last year the institutions pocketed nearly $100 million dollars more than they were required to.

The large surplus last year does not seem to be a one off aberration according to TEU National Secretary Sharn Riggs. “They have grown steadily each year since 2006.”

The public institutions that have generated the largest surpluses as percentages of revenue include Waiariki (16 percent) Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and SIT (13 percent each), WITT and UCOL (12 percent each), the Open Polytechnic, CPIT and Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (11 percent each).

“While we commend these institutions on careful and prudent management, we need to remember that surplus money is money that could have been spend saving jobs, teaching students and protecting quality education,” said Ms Riggs. “Too many good people have lost their jobs, gone without pay rises or been told to turn away students because of tight fiscal circumstances. It is galling to see that those circumstances were not so tight after all.”

Also in Tertiary Update this week

1. Negotiations across the nation
2. Voluntary student membership unlikely before election
3. Sleepover workers reject government offer

Other news

“Wanted: casual teaching staff. Postgraduate qualifications essential, PhD preferred. Minimum three hours work per paid hour; hours to be advised. No office provided. Three months work available; chance of more next year, after four months unpaid break.” Doesn’t sound very enticing, does it? But such is the lot of the sessional tutor — 70,000 in Australia, the NTEU estimates - The Melbourne Age

Two-thirds of English universities will have a maximum fee level of £9,000 and a third of them will charge the full fee for all courses. UCU said today that it was not surprised that all universities’ tuition fee hikes had been approved, leaving England as the most expensive country to study for a public degree – University and College Union

Almost a quarter of Australia’s universities expect to be over-enrolled by more than 20 per cent this year. And more than two-thirds of institutions began the year planning to take on extra students without any federal teaching subsidy to offset the cost. Australian universities are jockeying for position in next year’s demand-driven market. From next year, universities are promised teaching subsidies for every place they can fill – The Australian

Welsh ministers have been handed proposals for cutting the number of universities through mergers. A blueprint from the body that funds higher education would cut the number of universities in Wales from 11 to six. Education Minister Leighton Andrews, who last year said universities must “adapt or die”, is backing the proposals - BBC

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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.

Ironically, in the last year, a number of polytechnics around New Zealand have made electrical engineering tutors redundant including NorthTec, MIT, Weltec and SIT.

“We can’t quantify the inevitable spike in demand for cablers and cable-jointers until start hiring and training,” ETITO corporate relations manager Michael Frampton told the New Zealand Herald, “but certainly anecdotal feedback from training providers indicates that the industry is very much relying on its ability to train people quickly when the demand presents.”

However, Communications Minister Steven Joyce said there was no immediate skill shortage and funding for more training could be made available by the Tertiary Education Commission if required.

The ultra-fast broadband scheme and rural broadband initiative are to be rolled out over the next eight years and will need to be built and upgraded by engineers with a specialised knowledge of fibre optic cables.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little is concerned that without an adequate supply of trained workers Telecom through its maintenance arm Chorus will recruit cheap, foreign labour to build its planned fibre optic networks. Chorus has won the first contracts to build the networks.

“This kind of project is a great opportunity to create jobs for New Zealand workers and invest in our local skills base”, said Mr Little. “Any sensible government would want to make sure that this expertise stays in New Zealand.”

Telecom’s lines arm, Chorus, will build most of the network but refused to tell the New Zealand Herald if it had enough skilled workers to roll out the fibre cables.

Thanks to Dan Chace @ Flickr for the photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/zebraman/430328206/in/photostream/

Polytechnics and one wānanga were big losers in this year’s Government’s Student Achievement Component (SAC) funding for the tertiary education sector.

Figures released last year from the Tertiary Education Commission show that eight polytechnics will receive less SAC money this year than last. The figures reveal that Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, UCOL, NMIT, Northtec, SIT, WITT, Waiāriki and Te Tai Poutini all receive funding cuts this year. Te Wānanga o Raukawa also lost a million dollars of funding this year.

Universities on the whole did better, with a $56 million, or 5 percent increase in SAC funding – although $10 million of that relates to funding that last year went to Telford Rural Polytechnic and this year is moved into Lincoln University’s budget due to a merger of the two institutions.

Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) were the hardest hit by the commission’s funding announcement with 31 of 37 receiving funding cuts. Overall ITOs lost $28 million of funding.

The polytechnics and wānanga that are the worst hit by funding cuts are all outside the major urban cities.  Waiāriki Institute of Technology, for instance, faces a 6 percent reduction in its SAC grant this year.  That is $1.5 million, or over $400 for every equivalent full time student.

Overall, the total funding increase to the SAC grant (2 percent) does not quite match the 2.2 percent price increase that the commission says is included in its calculations – in other words there is an overall funding cut for the institutions, which is particularly given the significant roll growth that tertiary institutions are experiencing.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. PM claims better results for less money
2. Will new trade agreement let foreign universities sue NZ?
3. Education International’s first global women’s conference
4. Early childhood cuts won’t heal

Other news

Professor Harlene Hayne has been appointed as the new vice-chancellor of the University of Otago and becomes the second woman vice-chancellor of a New Zealand university, following Judith Kinnear who left Massey in 2009. TEU’s Otago university branch welcomed Dr Hayne and looks forward to working constructively with her.

The number of Equivalent Full Time Students aged 18 – 25 years engaged in formal tertiary study increased by 15,648 (13.5%) between 2008 and 2010 – TVNZ

The Labour Party has announced a new Tertiary Education spokesperson, Darren Hughes, will replace Grant Robertson. Mr Hughes takes on the entire Education portfolio including tertiary and compulsory education – Labour Party

“I take issue with an underlying assumption in the report that academics and institutions aren’t very good at career planning. Academics work with their institutions to set out clear career plans – the problem is the rules of progression and attainment for academics are being set by managerial approaches to tertiary education, which have been in continual flux for more than two decades” – Sandra Grey

Dame Margaret Clark, who has worked at Victoria University for more than three decades, says it is not the lifestyle choice it used to be. “I think the future is a lot tougher than my past was. I think that universities were much more gentlemanly, much more relaxed, much less judgemental,” she said. The pressure has also increased in her department, where student teacher ratios are 1:47, when they should be 1:15 – TVNZ

The Government is cutting support for teaching in higher education by 80 per cent, and forcing universities to charge up to £9,000 per year. With the median wage in the UK at £22,000, the majority of the UK population will be unable to pay some of the highest fees in the world –Open letter from academics in the Time Educational Supplement

The Dutch coalition government has announced cuts of up to EUR500 million (US$681 million) a year for higher education, penalties for students and universities if they fail to complete their degree after four years, and the abolition of grants for masters students. University rectors and the mayors of university cities warned that the cuts would “push the Netherlands out of the world’s top 10 knowledge economies” – University World News

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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.

Terms for settlement

Proposed collective agreement with tracked changes

Thanks to Te Ara @ Flickr for the photo

At a SIT council meeting on Monday night chief executive Penny Simmonds said there had been five redundancies since March and it was likely more would occur.

“I can see over the next wee while we are working with reduced expenditure. It means there will be courses dropped,” she said.

TEU organiser Kris Smith is contacting Ms Simmonds about the proposed redundancies but says that union members have significant concerns about these redundancies because SIT is in a strong financial position with its existing cash reserves.

“What is the point of all that money if it is not going to be used for the benefit of the community?” asked Ms Smith.

As well as the five people who had been made redundant from the institute this year a further five who resigned have not been replaced, Ms Simmonds said. These redundancies were from both the Christchurch and Southland campuses and included teachers from carpentry, electrical, engineering and film production.

Ms Simmonds told the Southland Times she was “reluctant” to guess how many more redundancies would take place and when, but there was “certainly not going to be a huge number”.

Thanks to Te Ara @ Flickr for the photo

Thanks to Te Ara @ Flickr for the photo

Tertiary education minister, Hon Steven Joyce, says export education, New Zealand’s fifth largest export earner, is vital to continuing growth of both the economy and the tertiary sector.

“It’s essential that we maximise our opportunities in this area and that we are able to compete with other countries for international students in a sustainable way. This agreement is an important step in the right direction.”

Mr Joyce has been advocating that tertiary institutions look to international students, rather than the government, to increase their financial income.

UCOL, WITT, and SIT were all in the media this week discussing plans to recruit more international, and specifically, Indian students to improve their finances.” 

TEU national president, Dr Ryan says that institutions need to be wary about being pressured by the government into another international student boom like the one created during the 1990s.

“We face significant dangers if we begin to regard Indian students and other international students as the solution to government under funding,” said Dr Ryan.

“International students have an important cultural and educational contribution to make to New Zealand. But they also need pastoral care and support. They deserve better than to be treated as a short-term cash injection into our institutions. New Zealand’s international reputation also deserves better.”

Local government review could unravel community education initiatives

Local government minister Hon. Rodney Hide has decided that local councils need to stick to their knitting. And among the patterns he won’t be handing out to council knitters are any weaving them into close collaborative relationships with local tertiary education institutions.

The minister announced this month that he would review the Local Government Act:

“I want the Act reviewed to ensure ratepayers and citizens have better tools for controlling council costs, rates and activities,” the minister said. “I will be looking at ways of ensuring local government operates within a defined budget and focuses on core activities.”

And that should probably come as no surprise. He had, after all, deliberately taken on the local government portfolio with the express intention of advocating his own Act party’s position in the context of local body governance, knowing that he did not otherwise have the political support to carry such an argument in relation to national governance.

Further, he had already ‘proactively’ released the cabinet paper outlining his decision onto the internet some days earlier. In that paper, he defines ‘core services’ as transport services (roading, footpaths and public transport), water services (water supply, sewage treatment, storm water and flood protection) and public health and safety issues (refuse collection and regulation of nuisances).

There is no mention of services presumably less generally accepted as ‘core’: community development, community services, cultural activities, arts, housing, employment and welfare. Such ‘non-core’ services are to be restricted or subject to costly community referenda before they can proceed.

Facing public concern, and a Prime Minister who says he holds a different view of core services to his own minister, Mr. Hide extended his definition of core services to include libraries.

But not yet education.

And the problem is that many local councils are actively involved in supporting education in their towns, cities and districts.

Take, for instance, Gisborne and Wairoa District Councils, which are working together with Tairāwhiti Polytechnic through the Tairāwhiti District Partnership on a collaborative project to stop young people leaving the district to fulfill their career needs.

Or the Invercargill City Council, which has worked closely with the licensing trust and the Southland institute of Technology for a long time now on its ‘zero fees’ scheme for SIT students.

Or the Manukau City Council, which last year provided nearly $250,000 to the City of Manukau Education Trust (COMET) for community engagement initiatives like adult learning in schools and strengthening early childhood education services.

Or the Wellington City Council, which works closely with Victoria University of Wellington to support new migrant students attending the university.

Or the Grey District Council, which has written into its long term community plan, as one of only six community outcomes, its commitment to be a district that “values and supports learning with accessible, relevant education and training opportunities”.

No matter what you think of those projects and ambitions, they are all initiatives that democratically elected representatives in local communities have decided to pursue. They have decided these projects are core to their communities’ wants or needs. It seems strange that a politician who previously has appointed himself the role of getting the ‘nanny state’ out of peoples’ lives, should now be telling small, local communities what they can and can’t do.

Polytechnics, and institutes of technology in particular, rely on close collaboration with their local regions, not just to meet their requirements to the Tertiary Education Commission but to be relevant to the students and potential students that they hope will attend their institution. They see themselves as institutions contributing to their local community. Symbiotically, many councils rely on tertiary institutions in their regions to provide learning opportunities, skills development and job opportunities. With such shared and important goals, it’s no wonder so many collaborative relationships have evolved between tertiary institutions and councils.

The City of Manukau Education Trust is a strong example of this collaboration. Chief executive Bernardine Vester says that COMET provides a supporting structure and processes to connect Manukau Institute of Technology to its community.

“There is now a very strong connection between MIT’s strategic planning and community aspirations. That has been shaped by its engagement with the City Council through COMET.”

“City councils don’t have to ‘do the social wellbeing all by themselves a tertiary institution is an important community leader. , But councils have to coordinate all the pieces of the jigsaw because no one body has all the answers.”

Removing the impetus of district and city councils to act in such a coordinating role will, if we are to return to our knitting analogy, leave us with a whole pile of loose threads rather than a coherent team of community organisations woven together with shared strategies and planning.

What the minister has outlined in his local government review accords closely with his Act party’s pre-election agenda for local government. This includes commercialization or privatization of many of the non-core functions that councils undertake, abolishing the local government power of general competency, and the contracting out of many council services.

The Minister notes in his cabinet paper that he intends to consult with a limited range of stakeholders: namely Local Government NZ and the Society of Local Government Managers, on matters requiring technical expertise. But otherwise he does not intend to consult more widely than that:

“I do not propose to publish a public discussion document,” because “there have already been a number of recent processes that have elicited pubic views on local governance.”

It is doubtful, however, that the education sector submitted to those previous reviews with an expectation that they needed to defend themselves from future attacks on the partnerships they had built up with their local community councils.

This all stands in contrast to the current section 10 of the Local Government Act, which defines the purpose of local government as (a)” to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities; and (b)” to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities, in the present and for the future.

Although Mr Hide has said that he will not be releasing a public discussion document, it seems that he will be getting a public discussion. Prime Minister John Key is quoted in the New Zealand Herald as saying that social policies are important issues for councils, that the review is just “an engagement in debate”, and that Act’s policies do not necessarily reflect Government’s view.

For those educators who value the collaborative community support that many local councils are providing, the task now is to make sure that the Prime Minister hears the debate he has called for – despite his own minister closing down most avenues for engagement in that debate.

Tom Ryan

TEU National President Te Tumu Whakarae

The Southland Times reported this week that the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) and other tertiary-education institutions might have to start turning people away to avoid losing part of their funding as the recession pushes enrolments beyond government approval. SIT’s equivalent–full-time student (EFTS) numbers have increased by 5 percent since last year.

Meanwhile, the Waikato Times reported yesterday that figures from Wintec and the University of Waikato show that student numbers are up 4.1 percent and 14 percent respectively on the same time last year. “A lot will depend on what happens throughout the year,” Wintec chief executive Mark Flowers told the paper. “I will be sorry if we have to turn people away.”

In 2007, the Tertiary Education Commission capped EFTS at tertiary-education institutions until 2010 and introduced the ability to take away funding if institutions exceed or fall short of predicted student numbers by more than 3 percent.

Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Wellington Institute of Technology, and Waiāriki Institute of Technology in Rotorua have all reported EFTS growth above 10 percent on last year. At this stage, no institute has said publicly that it will turn away students but Lisa Finucane, the communications director at Waikato University where student enrolments are still safely within the 3 percent bracket, has said the university would never turn people away from studying “even if it means having to teach more people without the extra funding”.