Newly elected TEU national president, Dr Tom Ryan, says it is time for the CEOs and vice-chancellors of the country’s tertiary-education institutions to join up the dots and take action if they are going to step up to the challenge New Zealanders have laid down for them to combat the country’s economic crisis.

Dr Ryan was elected yesterday by TEU members and takes up the new position on 1 April. The other candidate was current national co-president, Tangi Tipene of Waiāriki Polytechnic.

“Too many institutions are working in last year’s economic climate with last year’s enrolment figures,” said Dr Ryan. “We need to deal with the fact that student enrolments are up all over the country, but that funding is capped for institutions enrolling students above the cap. While the country is calling out for tertiary education and skills training, we have institutions still engaged in last year’s restructuring plans, job lay-offs, and redundancies. It doesn’t make sense any more.”

Dr Ryan added that New Zealand’s tertiary-education workers have the capacity and the skills to help educate and train the thousands who need a new chance in our fragile economy. “But, for that to happen, institutions need to make staff workloads and student education their focus, not overseas business ventures and flashy business diversifications.”

Dr Ryan is a senior lecturer in anthropology and labour studies at the University of Waikato. He says it is fantastic to be leading a strong, united union in its inaugural year. He has been a union leader since the 1970s, when he held elected offices in Australian mining unions. More recently, Dr Ryan has been president of the Lecturers’ Association at the University of Auckland, a member of the council and academic board at Waikato, and academic vice-president of the Association of University Staff.

In other contested elections for leadership positions within the newly formed Tertiary Education Union, Michael O’Connell of UCOL was elected ahead of Peter McLuskie of the Open Polytechnic as institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITP) academic vice-president. Glennis Birks of Waikato Institute of Technology, Richard Draper of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Lesley Francey of Manukau Institute of Technology, Sarah Hardman of Unitec, Eric Stone of NorthTec and Peter McLuskie of the Open Polytechnic were elected as the six academic representatives to the ITP sector group.

Also in Tertiary Update this week:

1. High hopes for Lincoln-AgResearch merger
2. Massey leads pay-equity way for universities
3. New students challenging government EFTS-funding caps
4. Tighter belt no excuse for more workload, says TEU
5. 9-day fortnight a reality but day 10 missing cash and training
6. Gillard gives speeches but not yet dollars
7. South Africa to split education ministry
8. Irish unionist wins academic freedom in court
9. Liverpool University will probably axe probability department

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Dr Ryan was elected earlier today by TEU members, beating the other candidate, Tangi Tipene of Waiāriki Polytechnic.

“Too many institutions are working in last year’s economic climate with last year’s enrolment figures,” stated Dr Ryan. “We need to deal with the fact that student enrolments are up all over the country but that funding is capped if institutions enrol too many students. When the country is calling out for tertiary education and skills training we have institutions still engaged in last year’s restructuring plans, job lay-offs and redundancies. It doesn’t make sense any more.”

New Zealand’s tertiary education workers have the capacity and the skills to help educate and train the thousands of New Zealanders who need a new chance in our fragile economy, said Dr Ryan. “But for that to happen institutions need to make the workload of staff and the education of students their focus, not overseas business ventures and flashy business diversifications.”

Dr Ryan is a senior lecturer in anthropology and labour studies at the University of Waikato. He says it is fantastic to be leading a strong, united union in its inaugural year. He has been a union leader since the 1970s when he held elected offices in Australian mining unions. More recently, Dr Ryan has been president of the Lecturers’ Association at the University of Auckland, a member of council and academic board at Waikato, and academic vice-president of AUS.

In other contested elections for leadership positions within the newly formed Tertiary Education Union Michael O’Connell of UCOL beat Peter McLuskie of the Open Polytechnic be elected Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP) Academic Vice President. Glennis Birks of Waikato Institute of Technology, Richard Draper of Christchurch Polytechnic and Institute of Technology, Lesley Francey of Manukau Institute of Technology, Sarah Hardman of Unitec, Eric Stone of Northland Polytechnic, and Peter McLuskie of the Open Polytechnic were all successfully elected as the six academic representatives to the ITP sector group.

The university’s dean of health and environmental sciences, Professor Max Abbott, told the Herald yesterday that the limits on health science student numbers were in conflict with the critical shortages of many kinds of health workers. The supply of graduates was an important factor in the shortages.

Professor Abbott told the Herald he emailed Finance Minister Bill English last month to point out that the extension of Tertiary Education Commission caps in health sciences, previously confined to medicine, dentistry, and large-animal science, but now including midwifery and oral health, had severely constrained growth in student numbers.

“Last year, and again this year, I have found it very distressing to have to turn away many hundreds of able applicants in programmes where we face workforce crises. [This] is most unfortunate given that we have unprecedented numbers of applicants seeking to enter health education programmes.”

Such limits on EFTS are likely to become an increasingly problematic area for the Tertiary Education Commission as increasing student numbers push up against the limits of budgets.

TEU transitional co-presidents Tangi Tipene and Associate Professor Maureen Montgomery argue that the government needs to invest quickly in many fields if New Zealand is to learn its way out of financial trouble.

“There is plenty of work available for New Zealanders, even in the face of our current economic crisis,” said Tangi Tipene, “But first of all we need to invest in giving them the opportunity to learn the skills and knowledge they need. We can learn our way out of the recession but it requires us to invest now.”