We will update this page over the next few days with TEU’s analysis and comment on Budget 2012, as well as links to coverage of tertiary education-related and employment-related Budget news.

Budget 2012 preview

Finance minister Bill English will unveil an austere ‘zero’ 2012 budget next week. The zero, budget (meaning there will be no overall increase in spending, even to account for inflation) is being preceded by several pre-budget announcements highlighting some areas that will see increased spending as well as preparing voters for some of the less popular cuts. [Read more]

No more money in budget, just shuffling and cuts

The prime minister, John Key, and the minister of tertiary education skills and employment, Steven Joyce, this week foreshadowed several tertiary education budget initiatives. Mr Joyce told Radio New Zealand that he would be shifting funding away from humanities and commerce towards maths, science, engineering and technology. [Read more]

Govt signals another austerity budget

The minister of finance, Bill English, announced this week that he will spend $800 million less in this year’s budget than the Prime Minister John Key was forecasting only six weeks ago. That could be ominous for tertiary education come next month’s budget warns TEU national president Dr Sandra Grey. [Read more]

Overpressure in education – an inevitable consequence of payment by results. A protest and a warning to parents.

A Victoria University TEU member sent this to us a few weeks ago – it seems particularly pertinent today given Minister Hekia Parata’s recent call for performance pay for teachers!

It seems Mr Taylor may have been ahead of his time – or perhaps Ms Parata a few years late?

The minister, Mr Joyce, last week said he wants to reform university councils, and that they currently are large and unwieldy.

In 2009 the government pushed through similar changes for polytechnic councils. Those changes reduced councils down to eight members, four of whom are directly appointed by the minister and the first four choose the remaining four. The minister appoints the chairperson and gives her or him the casting vote. Council members may also sit on multiple councils. Staff representatives, student representatives, union representatives and iwi representatives all lost their seats on the new councils.

TEU’s petition argues that imposing similar rules on universities would threaten their independence and academic freedom as it has done in the ITP sector.

TEU national president Sandra Grey says it is a myth that good business leaders make good leaders of public institutions such as universities and polytechnics:

“And it is even more of a myth that just because someone is a business leader they are good at governing – we need look no further than the global financial crisis to see what a good job publicly governed democratic and representative university councils have been doing compared to so called entrepreneurial and streamlined business directors.”

“Universities have a legal duty to challenge received wisdom and be the critic and conscience of society – including challenging government. How can they do that when the majority of their council owe their seats to the minister who appointed them?” asked Dr Grey.

The zero, budget (meaning there will be no overall increase in spending, even to account for inflation) is being preceded by several pre-budget announcements highlighting  some areas that will see increased spending as well as preparing voters for some of the less popular cuts.

Within tertiary education, Treasury forecasts from December indicated that tertiary education funding for 2013 will fall to be nearly $400 million below 2009 levels and will continue to fall until 2015. It also shows that numbers of funded full-time equivalent students will reach a record level this year (244,000) and will remain significantly above 2009 levels until at least 2016.

Within the confines of a ‘zero’ budget, the minister of tertiary education has already signalled that funding for degree-level science, maths, technology and engineering will be up but that funding for humanities and commerce may be down. Funding for PBRF research will be up, but funding for level and 1 and 2 courses may be down.

The budget’s big news story within tertiary education is likely to be restrictions on student allowances to four years of study, and the requirements to pay back loans more quickly. TEU views both these changes as an attack on equity and accessibility. There is no doubt that limiting people’s access to allowances, and increasing the financial burden that loans place on some people (especially low income earners, or those from low income families) will prevent some people from studying.

However, the other important equity issue is the gradual shift in funding from level 1 and 2 courses to degree and postgraduate study and research. All levels of study are important but the government is choosing to sacrifice the opportunities of first-time learners who are trying to get basic skills so that it can fund high-end research and study.

The other issue of note is that the Mr English appears only to be looking at the expenses side of the ledger in an attempt to balance future budgets (with the exception being he is not re-examining the 2009 tax cuts for New Zealand’s wealthiest earners, which took an estimated $2 billion out of our economy). He is not looking at investing in areas that can create more jobs, more skills and more opportunities – all of which would lead to more tax revenue and less expense for the government. Tertiary education has a critical role to play in solving New Zealand’s financial problems, but it needs support and resources to do it.

TEU’s written submission told the commission staff whose institutions had targeted them in this way suffered limited career progression opportunities and, in some instances, in redundancy.  It supported processes that offer the better protection against using PBRF performance as a rationale for making changes to employment conditions.

Meanwhile, Otago unviersity’s branch co-president Dr Brent Lovelock today told the Otago Daily Times people were losing their jobs because universities were “desperately trying to maintain or improve” their positions on PBRF tables.

“The PBRF process … has put alot of stress on staff and resulted inthe largest number of redundancies,in terms of academic staff, in my memory and I have been here for 12 years,” he said.

Associate editor of the New Zealand Journal of Psychology Associate Prof Neville Blampied told theOtago Daily Times PBRF was distorting research by discouraging some academics away from studying local issues.

“[Some may] have chosen to study something that is a hot topic internationally … and not to study stuff which is of very local interest but isn’t likely to sell internationally,” Prof Blampied told the paper.

In 2009 the government pushed through similar changes for polytechnic councils. Those changes reduced councils down to eight members, four of whom are directly appointed by the minister and the remaining four are chosen by the first four. The minister appoints the chairperson and gives her or him the casting vote. Council members may also sit on multiple councils. Staff representatives, student representatives, union representatives and iwi representatives all lost their seats on the new councils.

Imposing similar rules on universities would harm their independence and academic freedom. Sign our petition and let Mr Joyce know he should not take away the chance for staff, students and local communities to have a say in the governance of their universities.

Latest Signatures

More information:

• Reform eyes cuts to university councils – The Press
• University council reforms will incur unneeded cost - TEU media release
• You can’t fix what is not broken – no need to change university councils  - TEU guest post on the Standard
• Joyce wants less representation on university councils – Tertiary Update story
• Tertiary governance changes suspect – Otago Daily Times TEU opinion piece
• Petition to keep university councils democratic - Tertiary Update story

Inside, the US has chopped the already minimalist ‘stakeholder presentations’. The US Trade Representative (the Trade Minister), a former Dallas Mayor, turned receipt of a petition of 24,000 people demanding release of the TPPA text into evidence of their openness to ‘stakeholders’ views’! He dismissed a letter from 30 law professors demanding an end to the secrecy, saying there has been an unprecedented level of openness.

Critics registered as stakeholders are using the limited space to  challenge the agressive demands on the table, mainly from the US, and provide increasingly wary negotiators with analyses and proposals to help them to resist these demands. The rally was streamed live into the room of ‘stakeholder’ tables and onto a big screen!

Open Letter from Lawyers says ‘No Investor- Enforcement in TPP’

More than 100 jurists from NZ and other countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, including eminent judges Sir Ted Thomas and Sir Owen Woodhouse, and former Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson, sent an open letter to the negotiators calling for the right of investors to sue governments directly to be excluded from the TPP.  Lawyers can still sign on. A specialist website has been created with background information. There was lots of media, including Bryan Gould in the NZ Herald, Jane Kelsey on TV3 and, with Bill Rosenberg, on Court Report. The Herald followed with a bizarre editorial. The mainstream media debate has begun!

Hikoi, Asset Sales and TPPA

The Aotearoa Not for Sale Hikoi stopped in Johnsonville on 3 May to visit the electorate office of Peter Dunne, who holds the key vote on the energy asset sales bill. The Ohariu-Belmont group is keeping the pressure on him, but he doesn’t seem inclined to bow to this. The next day the hikoi was joined by a crowd of over 5000 as they marched to Parliament. After representatives from Labour, NZ First, Green and Mana parties spoke to the crowd, a series of women spoke very eloquently, including Francie, a previously silent immigrant of 20 years, who has been galvanised by the Johnsonville campaign.

Protests Continue in Wellington

Zombies danced outside the Wellington Stock Exchange on Thursday May 10 drawing attention to privatisations, asset sales and the TPP. A very long anti-TPP banner imitated the rolling stock exchange neon information that circles the building endlessly.

Asset Sales Petition

The petition against asset sales is available everywhere. Links were clearly made to the TPPA at the launch at Turnbull House, Wellington on 10 May. Make sure you sign. You could volunteer to help with signatures.

SOE Minister Guarantees no Investor-State disputes in TPPA

In a Radio NZ interview Tony Ryall said “you can be quite sure that the government is not going to agree to provisions that mean any foreign company can come and litigate everyday governing decisions by the New Zealand government to the detriment of the people of New Zealand. Why would you agree to that?”. So we now expect him to join the campaign to against investor-state disputes in the TPPA and all other FTAs …

TPPA on Intellectual Property threatens Sovereignty

A blog by Susan Chalmers of Internet NZ, from the TPPA negotiations in Dallas, took issue with the trade-off John Key outlined at the NZ-US Council: if NZ gets better access to US dairy and meat markets, the US gets to change NZ’s intellectual property laws to suit, namely, the film and music industries. NZ is then effectively stripped of its sovereignty when it comes to shaping aspects of its own IP policy.

NZ-US Council Conference Downplays Prospects for TPPA

The NZ-US Council’s 10^th anniversary conference at the Sky City Casino was dominated by the TPP negotiations – not surprising, as it was formed to push for a NZ-US FTA. A report that the TPPA would boost the NZ economy by $2 billion wasn’t taken seriously. An American business lobbyist gave a sober assessment of progress in the TPP talks, citing a ”chasm” between leaders’ ambitions and their negotiators’ positions and asking ”How can any product, service or core rule be excluded from the final package by one or more countries without the house of cards falling? We do not believe it can.” John Key talked down the supposed benefits and timeline. Former Labour Trade Minister Phil Goff was still pushing his old pro-FTA line. Seems a bit out of touch.

What next? – Lots of people are asking what they can do to spread awareness and  mobilise more people. That is great! We know people need information and resources, but we also want to encourage people to think about what they and their networks can do and how we can support them.

Please share TPP activities or good articles: contact Mary Ellen oconstance@gmail.com (the bulletin) and/or Hannah tppwatch@gmail.com (the website); Facebook page, Stop Stealing New Zealand and websites www.tppwatch.org and tppdigest.org

Thanks! Mary-Ellen O’Connor and Jane Kelsey on behalf of TPPWatch

–
TPP Watch
www.tppwatch.org

A part time student at the University of Canterbury says the university’s plan to close its theatre program will cost her $4000 of fees for a degree she can no longer complete. Sarah has told the student campaign You are UC:

“If I was a single teen or in my early 20s, I could move to Wellington, Auckland, or Otago to complete my Theatre degree. But this is not my situation. I am married, I have 3 children, I own a home in Christchurch, moving to suit the degree I want to achieve is not in the realm of possibility for me. The only reason I started a degree at Canterbury was so I could become a High School Drama teacher. If this closure goes ahead, I will have spent $4000 towards a degree which I will be unable… to complete at Canterbury University.”

Meanwhile the Christchurch Press reports that corporate culture at the university may be choking creativity. Reporting on the change proposal to close theatre and film studies The Press notes:

“[T]he issue at the moment, the document goes on to say, is not that Arts courses are weak or unsustainable, but that the College of Arts offers more courses than it can support on current and projected income.”

“In short: there is nothing wrong with the affected courses but someone or something has to go. It also becomes clear that this thinking actually pre-dates the earthquakes, as the proposal says [Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Arts, Prof] Adelson has been engaged in his strategic process for 18 months.”

The Press reports that that TEU has filed papers with the Employment Authority seeking a compliance order. Essentially, the filed papers charge the university with not following its own rules around academic process.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. Will there be jobs for science graduates?
2. Joyce wants less representation on university councils
3. Massive student protests shake Quebec
4. Massachusetts replaces teacher educators with video highlights

Other news

Instead of rethinking whether performance measures work in the tertiary sector, the government has set up a performance exercise looking at student retention and completion. For tertiary institutions the quickest route to achieving in this exercise is making sure students pass their courses. The simplest way to ensure students pass is to put pressure on academics to elevate grades (and in a few isolated cases this is already beginning to happen in a range of institutions across New Zealand) – Dr Sandra Grey on Kiwiblog

What we’re saying, though, is that once you’ve used your 200 weeks [of student allowance], that’s the end of it. Currently, you can get exemptions for long programmes, as they call them, or for master’s or PhDs. But when somebody’s getting to the point when they’re doing a master’s or a PhD or a long programmes where they’ve perhaps done one degree and they’re going to do another degree, they are going to have a good income when they leave, and therefore they should be able to pay off a student loan - Steven Joyce on TVNZ Q&A

Universities NZ welcomes the Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills & Employment’s indication over the weekend that there will be a modest increase to the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) in this year’s Budget as it is an effective system for supporting the wide-ranging contributions made by university research - Universities NZ

39 percent of fraud in both tertiary and local government sectors went un-investigated by police. Some 38 percent of respondents in councils and 37 percent in polytechnics and universities said they were aware of a case of fraud in their institution within the past two years – compared to a public sector average of less than a quarter - Radio NZ

Saudi Arabian students have been banned from studying in Christchurch because of earthquake fears. Students sponsored by the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education cannot get government-funded scholarships in Christchurch this year -Stuff

Confronted with the biggest crisis since the 30s, the trade body for British sociologists proudly displayed its engagement by enumerating articles in the Journal of Niche Studies. All this is a long way from that letter of 1981, let alone Keynes. Perhaps it shows how far academics have been forced to conform to their research assessment exercises and turn out measurable output - The Guardian

TV3′s new Sunday morning offering, Three60, is sponsored by Massey University in a deal some sources say could be worth around $50,000. Professor Malcolm Wright, Massey University’s head of journalism, appeared onThree60 to discuss the Rupert Murdoch saga. The sponsor became the commentator. In doing so, the tertiary institution got more buck for their endorsement dollar than if they had flashed a logo on screen at the commencement of the show – which they did. Is this part of the deal? - The New Zealand Herald

Mr Campbell says the problem is most science and technology jobs are based in either crown research institutes or in universities:

“…both of which are facing funding pressure from government and which therefore, are not hiring. On the face of it, Joyce is talking about shifting the focus of university course funding and fostering careers into areas where – with his other hand – he is limiting the funding required to sustain those careers.”

Mr Campbell points to a Department of Labour study that shows the majority of jobs growth between 2010 and 2015 will be in the fields of retail, service industries, business services, construction and agriculture.Immigration NZ’s immediate skills shortages list also shows shortages in agriculture and forestry, construction, hospitality and trades.

“What these documents indicate is that yes, there are some shortages and opportunities in science and engineering (not so much in maths and technology) but there are many more opportunities in the service industries – in retail, construction and agriculture, for instance. Many of those “science” jobs require trades certificates, not degrees.”

Several TEU members have supported this argument suggesting that currently there is not strong evidence of employment opportunities for science graduates.

“The government knows all this,” continues Mr Campbell. “Last year, 560 scientists signed an open letter to government decrying the dearth of career openings in New Zealand (and the minimal state support) for post-graduates in science. As things stand – if Joyce has his way – people will be being educated for jobs that do not exist while others will have their funding cut because they are studying subjects that the government has chosen to sacrifice…”

”They’re potentially a bit large and unwieldy,” Mr Joyce said.

”I want to see the universities take a more entrepreneurial approach.”

The government pushed through similar changes for polytechnic councils in 2009.  Those changes reduced councils down to eight members, four of whom are directly appointed by the minister and the remaining four are chosen by the first four.  The minister appoints the chairperson and gives her or him the casting vote. Council members may also sit on multiple councils. Staff representatives, student representatives, union representatives and iwi representatives all lost their seats on the new councils.

At the time public law expert Mae Chen said the dominance of Ministerial appointees may also undermine institutional autonomy, contrary to the object of the Education Act and Parliament’s clear intentions for academic freedom and independence.

TEU national president Sandra Grey has warned that Mr Joyce should take a look at what has happened under the new polytechnic council structure before he makes moves on university councils.

“The size of the polytechnic councils might have dropped but the costs of running them have not.”

At Wintec for instance fourteen people sat on Wintec’s council before the reforms and collected $93,000 in council fees. Since the reforms eight councillors, appointed by either the Minister of Tertiary Education or the council itself, have had pay rises of between 17 and 131 percent, and collected just under $109,000,despite being half the size and less representative of their local community. At Unitec the 15 councillors in 2009 received a total of $99,000 (an average of $6,600 each). The eight councillors in 2010, who were appointed by either the minister or the council itself, received $116,000 (an average of $14,500 each).

Dr Grey says the global financial collapse of 2008 showed that small unaccountable governing boards don’t always get it right, and that a transparent, democratic model, such as used in universities,  is much more reliable and financially sound.