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1. Joyce’s Academic Career Maryan Street (Labour) posed a question to Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce in Parliament yesterday about performance-related funding (video). Maryan Street argued that Joyce (or someone a lot like him) would have been turfed out of university under his proposed policy, which Steven Joyce was not too concerned about. At the end of the questions, Joyce tabled his academic record and Trevor Mallard then took the opportunity to move a motion congratulating him on his academic career. National wasn’t paying attention because this opened up an impromptu debate on the issue, wasting a bit of time and giving Labour MPs a bit of fun before the motion was unanimously passed. It turns out Joyce took about 21 years to have his degree conferred, although it seems he completed the papers within a few years but never had it formally conferred. If you’re not bored already, you can find more at the DomPost and here again at the DomPost, this time with some humour from Jane Clifton. NZPA’s Maggie Tait had more details on Joyce’s academic record.
2. SIT’s Big Incentives SIT is offering Chinese students 24 weeks English language tuition free if they sign up to a mainstream course. It’s a big discount.
3. Tai Poutini Restructuring Tai Poutini Polytechnic is restructuring to fit within next year’s tighter funding, with three senior managers having their positions made redundant.
4. Infratrain and Maori Te Ureroa Flavell of the Maori Party mentioned Infratrain’s work with Maori in a speech yesterday. Pita Sharples announced the major programme last July, which will involve 1820 trainees.
5. Joint PhD A University of Auckland student will enrol in her PhD jointly with the University of Birmingham, combining a PhD and her OE.