I put up a post on Friday seeking feedback on how ED Blog could develop – check it out and offer your input.

ED Blog has a new links page - check out the Policy Progress site, started by my ED colleague David Choat. Policy Progress looks at long-term issues and challenges from a progressive perspective. David is a great thinker on policy and political issues (I’ve loved discussing things with him since the late 90s), so add his blog to your reading list.

1. Quote of the Weekend “Look, we’ve been through a lot of change in the time I’ve been here but also before that. I don’t feel that I want to change anything else. I’m changed out.” TEC CEO Roy Sharp’s aversion to change is understandable, but his Minister, Steven Joyce, might have other ideas! The quote comes from a profile in Saturday’s Dominion Post.
2. Student Loans Student loans changes were a big story in the NZ Herald on Saturday – see post by me here. In other stories, the student loans bill passed last week has extended interest-free loans to graduates in Nuie, the Cook Islands, Tokelau and the Ross Dependency, while StudyLink mixed up applicants’ details in some letters - it’s the second time this year, but they’re dealing with 250,000 applicants.
3. Orientation A Dunedin firefighter was ecstatic that there were only four student-related fires last week, but, to be fair, this year was a lot better than last year. The Manawatu Daily Standard welcomed students’ contribution to Palmerston North in an editorial.
4. Iowa If you think student loans are a waste of money, you should read about an Iowa job training programme provided at a cost of $13,000 per worker (US average is $525). Businesses approach community colleges for training, which then take out bonds (ie raise loans) to cover the costs. Companies make no financial contribution, while most of the bond funds are spent on wage subsidies. In addition, most training was not in the priority industries originally targeted (ie telemarketing, not biotechnology). Finally, the bonds are repaid by diverting a portion of the workers’ income tax (ie tax that was already due). Here’s a link to a brochure, but please do not propose such a programme in NZ – this is just an example of what not to do.
5. NMIT NMIT opened their new aviation school near Blenheim on Friday, with Wayne Mapp, Assoc Minister of Tertiary Education and Minister of Defence, doing the honours. It should be a good partnership with the RNZAF and the private sector, notwithstanding recent job losses at Safe Air in Blenheim. Air New Zealand Engineering is its only main competitor in NZ, to my knowledge.
6. Secondary-Tertiary TVNZ ran a story on Saturday on MIT’s Tertiary High School. It’s a positive report on a positive initiative. Stuart Middleton is quoted, while his new blog is listed on our new Links page.
7. ITOs A couple of ITO stories came up in the last few days, one by the TEC (there was a link, but then they took it down…UPDATE – they just needed to fix a typo) and one by the NZ Herald - I’ll cover them at 11am today.