Punitive measures to catch debt-laden graduates at the border are a symptom of a bigger problem says TEU national president Lesley Francey.
Last week’s budget drew media attention for its attempts to reclaim unpaid student loans from ex-students who had absconded overseas, including hiring overseas debt collectors and measures to capture students at the border.
However, the reality is this year’s budget tells the tale of a government that encourages student debt rather than seeing it as a problem to crack down upon.
Despite inflation of 0.9 percent, government funding for teaching and learning (the Student Achievement Component or SAC) actually decreased by $1 million this year. Overall tertiary education funding remains down $400 million or 10 percent below 2009 levels.
And, for students, the money that the government invests in student allowances will fall every year until 2017, at which point that investment will be down over $100 million or 18 percent less than it was last year.
“Stagnant investment from government into teaching, alongside growing inflation pressure leaves institutions with no choice but to get money from elsewhere,” said Lesley Francey. “For students that means cuts in quality, higher fees, or both. Higher fees and less access to allowances means more debt. More debt means a more unequal society and less opportunity for many potential students to learn.”
“Rather than addressing debt, last week’s budget promotes it. Students and future students will bear the brunt of this government’s unwillingness to invest in the opportunity to learn.”
The National Science Challenges: exactly what does $134 million get these days? Last week the Government announced the National Science Challenges. These challenges and the associated funding represented one of the biggest opportunities that the sector had been afforded for, in reality probably decades – Kathryn McGrath, Director of the MacDiarmid Institute
A “strategic alliance” with Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) is one option being considered by Aoraki Polytechnic for the future – Timaru Herald
Australian employers have been warned against using redundancy programs to get rid of “undesired employees”, after RMIT University was fined $37,000 by the Federal Court for breaking workplace laws, and ordered to re-hire one of its professors – The Age
The crisis that is about to break out involves student debt and how we finance higher education. Like the housing crisis that preceded it, this crisis is intimately connected to America’s soaring inequality, and how, as Americans on the bottom rungs of the ladder strive to climb up, they are inevitably pulled down < some to a point even lower than where they began – Joseph Stiglitz
University of Auckland gardeners and security officers have won a living wage in recent negotiations. The gardeners and security officers are members of either the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) or TEU. The pay rise for both groups of members was 1.2 percent and 1.2 percent on paid and printed rates for a two year term. The minimum rate for gardeners and level 1 security officers is now $38,405 or $18.46 an hour.
“Most of the gardeners already receive the living wage or higher,” said university gardener and SFWU delegate Jason Fell (pictured).
“But that wasn’t reflected in our agreement. Getting the $18.46 minimum onto the printed rates means any new employees will have to be employed on the living wage.”
Caretakers at Victoria University of Wellington are hoping to win a living wage in their current collective agreement negotiations. The caretakers, some of whom belong to the Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU), and some of whom belong to TEU, are negotiating a multi-union collective agreement that they hope will deliver them a pay rise that will lift their lowest pay rates above the living wage minimum rate of $18.40 an hour.
TEU organiser Nicki Wilford says she has met with the university’s vice-chancellor Pat Walsh and discussed what would be involved in the university becoming the first living wage employer in the tertiary education sector.
“Victoria generated a lot of good publicity with its number one PBRF rating. For a relatively small financial investment and a commitment to support some of its lowest-paid employees and contractors it could be number one for the living wage too. At the moment it needs to look at its caretakers, library assistants and tutors, all of whom have minimum rates below $18.40, as well as its contracting arrangements.”
Nicki Wilford says the caretakers’ other major goal for negotiations is to align their agreement’s expiry date with the general staff collective agreement, with the goal of being included in that general staff agreement next time. General staff at the university currently have better leave and petrol allowances.
Too many institutions are continuing to run high surpluses rather than invest in education says TEU national president Lesley Francey.
The Tertiary Education Commission published its indicative financial results last week, showing a significant number of institutions generating profits substantially more than the 3 percent of revenue that the commission requires.
The 2011 figures showed that overall, institutions averaged 5.2 percent net surplus ratio, generating a total surplus of $196 million. In 2012 that is down to 3.5 percent or $90 million. However, that decrease is almost entirely the result of large deficits at the earthquake-struck University of Canterbury and Lincoln University. Many other institutions, particularly some polytechnics and wānanga continue to run surpluses far larger than are required.
For instance te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi generated a 13.2 percent profit, meaning it saved over $3 million more than was required by the commission. The Open Polytechnic saved $2.6 million more than required and the Southern Institute of Technology saved $1.7 million more than required.
In total 14 out of 29 public tertiary institutions exceeded their 3 percent target by more than a percent. Canterbury, Lincoln and Weltec were the only institutions to report a deficit.
In recent years, the sector has regularly run larger-than-required surpluses.
“The sector is underfunded and the government continues to make cuts,” said Lesley Francey. “So it doesn’t help to have institutions choosing to squirrel money away in large surpluses rather than invest it in education, which is, after all, the whole purpose of the money.”
As I sit here humming Monty Python’s “Always look on the bright side of life”, my immediate thoughts on the 2013 Budget is thank goodness there aren’t the major cuts to funding seen in Australia and the UK. Yet, I cannot help thinking that public tertiary education in New Zealand is undergoing a slow and painful crucifixion – a painful death from a thousand small adjustments in policy, which are fundamentally changing our nation’s approach to tertiary education.
The 2013 budget delivered by Bill English, and the tertiary education component set out by the minister of tertiary education Stephen Joyce, continues a long and steady shift in the balance between public investment in education and private costs; an on-going shift from public provision to private companies delivering education; and, an on-going shift from trusting the professionals who work in the sector to a punitive performance management environment.
Tertiary education has, for over two decades now, been delivered through a ‘mixed-welfare’ approach (there has been the contribution of both public monies and private funding into the tertiary education budget). But the balance is now shifting further and further towards tertiary education as a private benefit and therefore private cost. The evidence for this is found throughout the 2013 Budget. For example there is the $1 million decrease in actual funding that is given to institutions for them to meet their core teaching/learning roles, at a time when the cost of running the education sector continues to rise. Tertiary education inflation in the March quarter of this year was running at 3.8 percent but the government is putting no extra funding into the sector.
This difference between cost of running universities, polytechnics, wānanga and other providers and what the government invests in education has to come from somewhere. Will it mean even fewer staff working in the sector over time and rising student: staff ratios? Between 2006 and 2010 an additional 10,673 full-time equivalent students enrolled (from 196,066 FTEs to 206,739), a 5.2 percent increase in student numbers; but staff numbers have only grown by 1.2 percent (from 28,063 to 28,394). Or will it result in increased student fees? Certainly this seems to be what some in senior management positions in the tertiary education sector are pushing for.
The shift from seeing tertiary education as a public investment is also evident in the changes to student allowance eligibility. The changes affect those in the 40-64 year old age bracket, who can only get three years student allowance maximum; and over 65s who will get no access to student allowances. It is just too bad that technological, industry, and societal changes mean retraining will be inevitable for all current workers – this government is saying that retraining will be your responsibility, even though getting people retrained and working is of benefit to the entire society and the economy. Taking away people’s allowances is taking away people’s opportunity to learn. Added to this, those over 40 years old often make a really great impact on the classes they attend as they bring to their university, wānanga, and polytechnic classrooms’ skills from previous jobs, their roles within society and their families, and a passion for learning. And the approach fundamentally misunderstands how innovation and knowledge generation happens. It might just be a 67-year-old who invents the next great gadget or who has the knowledge to solve a seemingly intractable social problem.
The continuing programme of tightening up student allowance criteria results in a visible decrease in the actual support funding given to students over the last six years (a disinvestment in our next generation of innovators, social entrepreneurs, scientists, teachers, and so on):
Another example of how our public tertiary education system is slowly being transformed into a private cost and private benefit, is the government’s focus on using international students as ‘cash cows’. The 2013 Budget includes the ‘investment’ of $40 million into marketing the ‘international education industry’. The aim is to increase the income of our tertiary education ‘industry’ by $5 billion. So it is international students who will also help to pick up the shortfall between the government investment in education and the rising cost of running tertiary education.
The government’s transformation of our public tertiary education system into a more commercialised and privatised ‘industry’ is also evident in sections of the 2013 budget. Firstly there is the funding going to private companies who make money from training students. The government has increased the level of funding for PTEs, adding another $29 million on top of last year’s subsidy, to close the remainder of the gap in student achievement component funding with public tertiary education institutions. Minister Joyce calls this ‘closing the gap’. This approach fails to recognise that those working in the public sector, who see public education as a public good, might have a different ethos and approach to the work they do. After all, private companies have no obligation to provide to rural communities or hard to reach groups of our learning population.
There is also further evidence of the lack of appreciation of ‘public provision’ in the decision to provide additional R&D funding to private companies while taking money out of Crown Research Institutes. New Zealand does need research and development, but why not invest R&D funding with CRIs, universities, and other public enterprises rather than private firms?
Finally, the 2013 Budget is further evidence that the approach taken to tertiary education funding and policy development is increasing set in a punitive and low-trust environment. One of the areas of growth in the 2013 Budget is in funding ‘backroom’ tasks. The Government has put $440,000 extra in to “strategic leadership” and a further $8 million into “Managing the Government’s Investment”. This money is going to monitoring the performance of institutions; of lecturers and tutors; and, of researchers and students. It speaks to the high cost of a system of performance measures and targeting. All evidence of policy implementation shows us that high levels of targeting, mechanical efficiency and accountability measures, and performance management will cost more to put into action than systems where there is universal access, support, and grant funding. And this punitive attitude and the distrust of those engaged in the tertiary education sector (staff and students) may even lead to some student loan defaulters arrested at our borders, hardly an incentive for New Zealanders to return home from their OE.
So what do we do to push back when being offer a slow death through a thousand little Budget cuts and policy rules? We must debate the fundamental values underpinning this approach to tertiary education funding, an approach which sees education as a public burden and, as a result, one that pushes more of the cost onto individuals and their families; one that limits the opportunities of ordinary Kiwis; and one that puts money into advertising and monitoring every move of the work done by hard working teachers, librarians, tutors, lecturers, and administrators. Now is the time for an argument, not just a series of contradictions but a full on argument about what we hold dear – public tertiary education.
We must demand a different future – one full of opportunities. We must demand this of this National-led government, and the ones yet to come, for current staff and students and all those yet to come. And we make ourselves seen and heard. TEU is working with students and communities across the country on one attempt at making our sector visible beyond these walls. So keep 14 August free to join with everyone who cares about the future of tertiary education to be part of the Opportunity March.
Massey University has contacted us to say there were some errors in the Manawatu Standard story upon which we based our Tertiary Update story yesterday:
Vice-chancellor Steve Maharey has made the following statement to staff at the university:
The living wage: The university has taken no position on this issue. During an interview on Radio NZ National, to discuss the living wage concept I indicated that it was a very complex area because other matters like family support, the minimum wage and the basic guaranteed income had to be taken into account.
And university spokesperson James Gardiner says he was misquoted several times by the Standard and thus TEU:
I did not say Massey would make an offer at pay talks to match the living wage for workers.
Nor did I say Massey was set to take that challenge on for most staff.
Nor did I say that not everyone at the university would get a pay rise.
What I said was, that the vast majority of Massey staff are paid in excess of $18.40 (the percentage is about 95 per cent) and many of those who are not being paid that currently can expect to be as a result of the increments built into their existing employment agreements. I then provided examples of the categories of employees who are currently paid less than $18.40 an hour. I repeat, I did not say that those employees would not get a pay rise in the coming pay round.
TEU still believes the university should aim to be the first tertiary education institution in New Zealand to be a Living Wage employer, and will continue to campaign for this outcome during employment negotiations.
Long term under-funding of tertiary education since 2009 is taking away opportunities to learn from students and future students, say TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs, upon hearing news that the tertiary education budget will stagnate more than $400 million below than 2009 funding levels.
As one example of these cuts, despite estimating that student numbers will remain relatively steady, the government plans to cut student allowances by nearly a fifth over the next five years. It is cutting $400 million out of student allowances payments over the next five years.
“This government is stripping money away from students, both directly through their loans, allowances, and higher fees, and indirectly by attacking the quality of their education,” says Sharn Riggs.
“Instead it is subsidising $29 million to private education companies to help them make a profit rather than investing in local communities’ public education institutions.”
“This is yet another in a series of nasty budgets, which chooses austerity over opportunity.”
Massey University will likely be next to follow The Warehouse by offering its workers a “living wage” according to the Manawatu Standard earlier this week.
University spokesman James Gardiner told the Standard the university would meet tertiary union representatives at the pay negotiations table with an offer to match the living wage for workers.
Last week the local TEU branch called for a pay rise for Massey staff and contractors to bring their wages and salaries in line with the living wage.
The Living Wage Campaign advocates an hourly wage of $18.40 (About $36,000 per annum for someone working full time) as the minimum a worker needs to earn to provide themselves and their families with the basic necessities of life.
Massey was set to take that challenge on board for most staff but it would not happen overnight, Mr Gardiner said.
“The vast majority of Massey employees… are paid in excess of $18.40 an hour. A significant number of those not currently paid that much can expect to be within a relatively short space of time under the terms of their employment agreements.”
However, not everyone at the university would get a pay rise, including casual workers – often students in training, work experience, or internship-type roles, or staff who were provided accommodation as part of their role at Massey.
TEU launched a petition yesterday calling for the living wage at Massey to a ringing endorsement from members.
Tomorrow is Pink Shirt Day, and we’re talking about the power we all have to prevent bullying. Everyone has the power to ask for help, the power to change behaviour and the power to intervene. What you do makes a difference, so take action: wear a pink shirt on May 17 and start a conversation - Pink Shirt Day
A challenging tertiary education environment means the University of Otago will need to find new revenue streams if it wants to fund more than just ”business as usual”, vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne says - Otago Daily Times
The Australian tertiary education union has vowed to launch a major campaign against university funding cuts in the lead-up to the federal election, as hundreds of students rallied in a national protest - The Australian
As the International Workers’ Day (May Day) was celebrated worldwide on 1 May, the Secretary General of Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), an EI affiliate, was under house arrest. Six policemen guarded his house without any warrant or court order - Education International
Nigeria recently made several far-reaching decisions on the future of tertiary education in the country, including the creation of ‘mega-universities’ in six geo-political zones, each with the capacity to admit up to 150,000 students - University World News
Thanks to Mr_Stein @ Flickr for the photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/2347819903
Guest article from Prof. Jack Heinemann University of Canterbury branch president:
In his weekly article in the Christchurch Press(14 May), Chris Trotter makes the important point that persistent underfunding of fundamental New Zealand assets – its universities and polytechnics – diminishes the country, threatens its reputation, and leaves a legacy liability of future underperformance. But it is wrong to suggest, as he has, that academics have been colluding with governments to raise grades in an attempt to survive in an under-funded tertiary system.
There is not a single shred of evidence behind the suggestion that any of my bright, hardworking Chinese students – or any of my students – at the University of Canterbury are cheating themselves to higher grades much less that their accomplishments have been purchased through a third party. Moreover, the academic experience varies between disciplines. This makes it more difficult for an essay writing firm, such as the one allegedly revealed by the Sunday Star Times (12 May), to offer a generic product to all students. In the biological sciences at UC, for example, much of our assessment takes the form of exams (so no opportunity for outside help) and evaluations of laboratory or field experiments. The latter assessment would be hard to compromise by a distant provider because the assessment is based on the data and observations special to the experience in that laboratory or year in which the student does the experiment. Even if the assessment were compromised, that experience often has to be retold through a different set of questions in the exam, limiting any potential effect of short-term cheating. It is a leap to assume that cheating is a successful strategy.
Nevertheless, any charge of cheating must be taken seriously. Any form of it must be confronted. Those who earn their degrees must remain confident of their credibility; and those who hire our graduates must be certain of their competence. As Trotter says, we as a society must wake up to the reality that education is short-term expensive and long-term the best investment we make. The pressures on the system that he outlines are real and dangerous, but to date I believe that the integrity of my colleagues is uncompromised. However, as institutions engage in restructurings as frequently as full moons, and academics and their institutions must turn to ever more intellectually restricting sources of research funding, and engage in conformist behaviour to be perceived as acceptable to private and public benefactors, the integrity of individual academics will not be enough to save the system.
It is time for a serious re-investment in people and the infrastructure for a 21st Century tertiary education system. Let’s keep the focus on the problem, not on those who have struggled to maintain academic standards despite decades of disinvestment by governments.
The passing of the marriage equality act last month reflects not only a change in New Zealand’s legal attempts to address discrimination against LGBTI people, but also a growing acceptance among a majority that ‘homophobia and gender identity discrimination is not acceptable. However many LGBTI workers still face discrimination in the workplace, including tertiary education workplaces.
With that in mind TEU’s queer community will hold its inaugural LGBTI (gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersex, and transgender) forum at AUT next week.
TEU’s LGBTI forum hopes that it can face down some of that workplace discrimination by lobbying for improved policies and safer environments.
Forum spokesperson Julie Douglas says forum participants will spend the day highlighting issues that LGBTI workers working in tertiary education face, but also drawing up plans for the union to solve those issues.
“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer workers (LGBTI) often experience workplace discrimination. Unions like TEU have a crucial role to play in protecting and defending LGBTI workers’ rights.”
“Some institutions such as AUT and the University of Auckland have started down the path – actively identifying the needs of LGBTI workers in their equal employment opportunity plans. That’s a start and we are making good progress, but more needs to be done. We will also look at international initiatives particularly around possible bargaining claims that might support our members.”
Julie Douglas says a union’s strength comes from its members so for TEU to build its power to fight homophobia and gender identity discrimination it needs to sign up more members – both LGBTI members and straight members who vocally support an end to workplace discrimination.
When the budget is released this afternoon TEU will be responding to it with a media release and analysis at this webpage.
In the meantime the CTU’s economist Bill Rosenberg argues that the government’s austerity programme is being increasingly discredited as a way to get out of the current and ongoing international recession.
The government has so far given us few clues as to what will be in the Budget today. There will be an “operating allowance” for “new spending” of $800 million, but as usual with this Government, most of that will be used by increased health and education spending. Health is rumoured to be in for a 2.5 percent increase which is less than previous years and is again likely to be inadequate to cover rising costs. We will be told how the proceeds from the asset sales (the ethereal “Future Investment Fund”) will be used for capital investment. With both the value and the feasibility of asset sales in increasing doubt, it will be interesting to see how this is managed.
The direction the Government is following adds up to more than housekeeping and minor technical changes. Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf recently made the spine-chilling statement that “The public service is changing the way it does business to a degree not seen since the 1980s.” Some of that may actually be “back to the 1980s” but some is also making it more difficult for the government to regulate. Bill English has also said that spending will be reduced to 30 percent of GDP by 2015 – significantly below what was in previous forecasts, and a level only reached previously this century during times when growth was vigorous and unemployment low.
Reductions in spending when unemployment remains high and there are many signs of continuing hardship in the community might be “austerity lite” but it is the wrong thing to do. Austerity is increasingly being discredited as a way to get out of the current and ongoing international recession, with prominent economists being forced to admit their previous forecasting was in error, and that austerity is clearly making things worse in many countries.
There are alternative ways of running the economy that look after people and at the same time build a platform for future diversity in the economy. New Zealand’s relatively low public debt levels leave room to do this.
We will update this page over the next few days with TEU’s analysis and comment on Budget 2013, as well as links to coverage of tertiary education-related and employment-related Budget news.
2013 Budget analysis
Commentary by TEU vice-president Sandra Grey - As I sit here humming Monty Python’s “Always look on the bright side of life”, my immediate thoughts on the 2013 Budget is thank goodness there aren’t the major cuts to funding seen in Australia and the UK. Yet, I cannot help thinking that public tertiary education in New Zealand is undergoing a slow and painful crucifixion – a painful death from a thousand small adjustments in policy, which are fundamentally changing our nation’s approach to tertiary education. [Read more...]
Opportunity not austerity – TEU media release
TEU media release – Long term under-funding of tertiary education since 2009 is taking away opportunities to learn from students and future students, say TEU national secretary Sharn Riggs, upon hearing news that the tertiary education budget will stagnate more than $400 million below than 2009 funding levels. [Read more...]
Budget doesn’t do enough for growing social problems
CTU media release – “Today’s Budget fails to address the huge social problems of a crisis in jobs, low wages, increasing poverty and inequality that New Zealand currently faces. These problems have grown over the last five years, and this Budget doesn’t do enough to help solve them.” says Bill Rosenberg, CTU Economist. [Read more...]
Students lose in last week’s Budget
Punitive measures to catch debt-laden graduates at the border are a symptom of a bigger problem says TEU national president Lesley Francey. [Read more...]
Budget 2013 Preview
With the national budget now just a week away Tertiary Update previews what tertiary education can expect. There are two central issues to preview; how much money the government spends and what it prioritises with that money. [Read more...]
CTU Budget Preview
Reductions in spending when unemployment remains high and there are many signs of continuing hardship in the community might be “austerity lite” but it is the wrong thing to do. Austerity is increasingly being discredited as a way to get out of the current and ongoing international recession, with prominent economists being forced to admit their previous forecasting was in error, and austerity clearly making things worse in many countries. [Read more...]
Here’s TEU’s response to the essay cheating issue that has been in the media over the weekend:
Cheating is not a widespread problem as far as we know.
No academic would willingly turn a blind eye to this sort of cheating (or any cheating). It is central to their professional integrity that they oppose cheating of all sorts.
One contributing problem to addressing cheating is many courses no longer have tutorials – just big lectures where student anonymity can cause a problem for academics.
More tutors are casualised, overworked and given very large tutorial groups which makes it harder to know if a student’s work is their own.
Although academics have high professional standards there is increasing commercial pressure on institutions, rather than academics, to pass fee-paying students. Institutions and academics are both resisting this perverse incentive, but government underfunding and commercialisation of education undermine that good work that institutions and academics do.
Massey University staff, whose minimum pay rates are more than $5 per hour below the living wage, deserve better pay says local TEU organiser Dean Scott.
“Massey is a big public employer in the Manawatu and it has a leadership role in its community ensuring local people are paid a living wage. That is, they should earn enough that they have the income necessary to provide themselves and their families with the basic necessities of life.”
“We would like Manawatu to commit to the living wage, and we would like Massey to lead the way.”
“Manawatu needs good jobs with good pay and conditions if it wants people to embrace the community and be able to bring up families there. Many of Massey’s general staff, who are TEU members, are earning a wage that living wage research shows is not enough,” said Dean Scott.
The Living Wage Campaign says the living wage is more than just being able to survive because it involves the ability to participate socially and even to consider the future like being able to take out a modest insurance policy.
“It embraces small but important things like being able to pay for children to enjoy a school trip, having a computer in the home and being able to mix with friends recreationally, albeit modestly,” says its research report.
There is no evidence, the campaign says, that paying a living wage leads to job loss. In fact the benefits far outweigh any costs. Businesses that have implemented the living wage report reduction in turnover, higher morale and better public reputations.
TEU members at Massey will launch a petition in support of the living wage on Wednesday 15 May as they begin collective agreement negotiations 2013 campaign.
Flexibility is popular with university management – but for casual academics, it’s code for employment insecurity – New Matilda
Professors in the philosophy department at San Jose State University are refusing to teach a philosophy course developed by edX, saying they do not want to enable what they see as a push to “replace professors, dismantle departments, and provide a diminished education for students in public universities.” – The Chronicle of Higher Education
Underperforming Ministry of Education programmes will be cut as Government makes way for an extra $60 million spend over four years to improve the behaviour and education of young people – Stuff
The American Association of University Professors has sharply criticized New York University’s treatment of faculty members on its campus in Florence, Italy, declaring that adjunct professors there saw abrupt pay cuts and three long-time studio-arts professors were terminated, allegedly for trying to help form a faculty union – The Chronicle of Higher Education
kaimoana: seafood. He pai rawa atu te kaimoana ki a ia. She really likes seafood. (Literally “Seafood is best to her.”) - this is an example of a classifying sentence […]
Budget 2013 Preview
