Posts Tagged ‘universities’

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What’chu Talking About, Willetts? AKA The Abel Magwitch Funding Model

In Rory MacKinnon on May 12, 2011 at 4:11 am

David Willets by bisgovuk

David Willett’s staggering suggestion Tuesday that we could top up university budgets by letting people just buy their way in seems to have made a lot of headlines (including my own).

A lot of people were understandably blindsided by his stunning argument that we could make Britain a more equal society by opening universities up to (a) the very hardest-working, brightest, luckiest kids the middle and working classes have to offer, and (b) rich kids who scrape through the entry exams.

Of course the other David has moved quickly to stamp out that forest fire – but another wee gem seems to have slipped past unscathed and relatively unobserved.From the original story:

A third option for expanding university places without cost to the public purse is by encouraging charities to sponsor students. At present, if a charity wished to fund a group of students from poor backgrounds, those places would have to come out of a university’s existing quota because of the risk that the students involved might need public support in future.

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ACT on Campus misrepresents its own Top 10

In Rory MacKinnon on October 4, 2009 at 9:59 pm

Home
ACT on Campus vice-president Peter McCaffrey recently put out a top 10 list of student unions misrepresenting their members. It’s been briefly mentioned in the Dominion Post, but on closer inspection the list manages to misrepresent more than a few things itself. I thought a good brisk fisking might be in order to set the record straight (as always, any dissent is welcome in the comments). So let’s get started.

10. NZUSA endorsement of Labour in 2008, despite more students voting National than Labour.

Not true – the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations put out a voters’ guide which can be clearly viewed here. Nowhere in the guide does it endorse Labour – even the colour scheme is non-partisan. What it does do is endorse universal student allowances, a policy adopted by Labour and the Greens in the last election, and it would seem this is the source of McCaffrey’s discontent. But there’s nothing illegal, questionable or even unusual about a lobby group endorsing a policy. It’s a very different thing from third-party electioneering  - more Federated Farmers than Exclusive Brethren – and McCaffrey should be smart enough to know this. Read the rest of this entry »

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Veni Vidi VSM: an institutional perspective

In Rory MacKinnon on September 27, 2009 at 3:38 am

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/337248947_f1eadc7cc0_o.jpg
Ten years ago a National government prodded tertiary students to adopt voluntary union membership. Now National is backing a bill to make membership voluntary by law.  Libertarians are for it; lefties are against it – but what does it mean for the institutions that have to live with it? Read the rest of this entry »


Victoria votes for 5% fee increase – again, and again…

In Rory MacKinnon on September 22, 2009 at 4:52 am

Pat Walsh. As reported by Michael Oliver of Salient and today’s Dominion Post, Wellington’s Victoria University has announced plans to raise undergraduate fees by five percent and almost double its student services levies from $275.60 for domestic students to $510.

Now, don’t get me wrong: VUWSA’s storm-the-halls-and-egg-the-bourgeoisie tactics are a particularly obnoxious way of tilting at windmills, and Salient editor Jackson Wood claims that at least half of the 25 students involved were from the Communist Workers’ Party. But at the same time I wouldn’t be surprised if their constituents really were to rankle at the latest increase.

As we’ve discussed elsewhere, the increase in student service levies is a national trend at the moment, with Canterbury, Massey and Waikato all announcing significant rises of their own. To give the university credit, Vice-Chancellor Pat Walsh did meet with students in advance and explain the rationale, and it’s to be hoped that the money will be ring-fenced as with Massey and Canterbury.

But students would be right to object to Victoria’s exploitation of the fee maxima scheme, which requires institutions to seek government approval before raising fees anything beyond 5 percent a year. Read the rest of this entry »

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Universities hike levies as Govt funding runs dry

In Rory MacKinnon on September 19, 2009 at 10:43 pm

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/8806988_2c487ef390.jpgStudent representatives say the government is abdicating its responsibility for tertiary education funding, with universities increasingly turning to levies to top up operational budgets.

The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations said Friday they were not surprised by a recent spate of levy increases, which university councils say will free up core government funding for staff and research.

While the vast majority of revenue still comes from government funding, many institutions also charge a levy in order to subsidise their facilities and pastoral care programmes, such as crèches, academic support or health centres.

The latest round of fee setting has seen significant rises in student services levies across the country: Waikato University’s $140 levy for intramural students in 2010 represents a 40 percent increase, while Massey’s has almost doubled at $200. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Some validity” to VSM lobby – MAWSA president

In Rory MacKinnon on September 13, 2009 at 10:26 am

alex sorensenA prominent member of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations says student unions need to come clean with their constituencies – or risk losing them altogether.

Massey Wellington Students’ Association president Alex Sorenson said Tuesday that Roger Douglas’ Education (Freedom Of Association) Amendment Bill, currently before Parliament, raises important issues of accountability and good faith. Read the rest of this entry »

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BREAKING NEWS: National will back VSM bill

In Rory MacKinnon on September 10, 2009 at 10:41 pm

http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/50662BE8-F047-4F45-A80F-17983A76E91C/0/NationalParty.gif

After our post on Roger Douglas’ VSM bill I took the liberty of emailing a few key players to find out where they stood on the issue. Associate education minister Heather Roy was obviously all for it, since she was the bill’s original sponsor. Education minister Anne Tolley did not respond (again, no surprises there), and nor did her other associate minister Pita Sharples.

But the other other associate minister, Wayne Mapp, was refreshingly frank. His unedited reply is below.

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Godwin’s Lawyers: the van Leeuwen scandal revisited

In Rory MacKinnon on September 8, 2009 at 9:50 pm

http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WhiIllAnci/WaikatoLogo.jpgHonorary Israeli consul and former president of the NZ Jewish Council David Zwartz is demanding that Waikato University apologise for its handling of Roel van Leeuwen’s thesis, which was pulled from the university’s library when its subject, former National Front secretary Kerry Bolton, wrote to the university to complain.

Zwartz may well argue that the university’s behaviour constituted cultural insensitivity – but if any apology is forthcoming, it should really be to the country’s academic community.

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Massey announces 5% fee hike

In Rory MacKinnon on September 7, 2009 at 7:44 pm

http://www.addriteservices.com/flying_money.jpgA funny thing happened on the way to the fees forum…

If you’re a student at Victoria University, you’re cordially invited to “constructively engage with the university on the issue of student fees” at a public meeting on Wednesday.

If you’re a student at Massey however, that train’s already left town. Vice Chancellor Steve Maharey will also be hosting a video conference with students tomorrow, but with the express intent of defending a decision the university has already made.

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VSM redux: Douglas’ bill and the lay of the land

In Rory MacKinnon on September 7, 2009 at 10:08 am

http://alburywodongaonlinechronicle.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/ballot-box-thumb.jpg?w=184&h=213Trust us to begin with the big issues: you may or may not be aware that Roger Douglas’ Voluntary Student Membership Bill was pulled from the hat late last month. Salient‘s Michael Oliver has a pretty decent summary of the state of play in this week’s issue, but a little historical context wouldn’t hurt either. Here’s one I prepared earlier…

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