Tertiary Update, Vol 13 No 2, 28 January 2010

The prime minister announced this week that he was appointing a new minister of tertiary education, Steven Joyce, to replace Anne Tolley who had been in the job for only a year.

Mr Joyce will add the tertiary education portfolio to his existing roles as minister of transport and of communications and information technology, and associate minister of finance and of infrastructure.

The new minister is a” relative newcomer to parliament, having been elected in 2008. He has a zoology degree from Massey University and was previously managing director of the RadioWorks company, which he sold to Canwest media company in 2001. Since then he has” managed two election campaigns for the National Party, and acted as a consultant for John Key.

TEU national president Dr Tom Ryan” welcomed Mr Joyce to his new role, saying he hopes that the minister will be use his obvious abilities and influence for the betterment of the sector.

“In the medium term, Mr Joyce needs to confront the real effects of the major financial cuts imposed on the sector by the 2009 budget – especially given significant increases in government spending on tertiary education in Australia. Clearly, if this country’s tertiary sector is to maintain its competitive edge, there must be greater investment in it”.

“He also needs to remove the student enrolment cap in order to ensure that all competent young New Zealanders who want to pursue tertiary education in fact are able to do so, and that our post-recession workforce is properly trained and educated”, said Dr Ryan.

“The very first thing Mr Joyce should do, however, is to look to the level of industrial action in the ITP part of the sector which is shaping up to disrupt the beginning of the 2010 academic year. Employer intransigence has dragged some of the bargaining into a second year, and unless resolved will undoubtedly result in a further round of industrial disruption in a number of institutions over the coming months”

Also in” Tertiary Update this week:

1. NorthTec enrols more students
2. Regional executives disestablished at Massey
3. Student unemployment rises in Gisborne
4. Most school leavers are becoming students
5. Minimum wage increases minimally

Other news

• US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton has” ended a pair of controversial bans, implemented by the recent Bush administration, that were preventing two internationally renowned academics from entering the USA – NEAR International
• Aoraki Polytechnic’s” buying spree continues – Scoop
• The South Island’s three universities, police and health groups are working together to curb a” binge-drinking “epidemic” -” ” The Press
• Global Campaign for Education urges improved education funding with its” 1Goal World Cup campaign to lift 75 million children out of poverty and into education – Education International
• Some male lecturers in Ghana and Tanzania “consider it their right to demand” sex for grades“, researchers at the University of Sussex have found -” Times Higher Education Supplement
• Indian company Manipal will take control of the online business learning joint venture” U21Global, after member universities agreed to a new strategy to expand a business that has so far failed to deliver -” The Australian

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:” http://scr.im/stephenday