News 26 Mar – Science merger, Transition to Uni

March 26th 2010 at 8:45am, By Dave Guerin

MORST/FORST Merger MORST and FRST are going to merge to bring together the government’s main science agencies.
Transition to University The University of Auckland’s Starpath project has published a new report on what works in the transition from school to university, focusing on low-middle decile school students. The findings aren’t surprising, but they’re worth reviewing.
Unite Again There’s a bit more here about Unite’s campaign to set up a club at MIT (or get their petition signed, or just get some publicity…)
Massey’s Looking for Money Massey University is kicking off a $100m endowment fund campaign. It was launched in Wellington last night – making it the second Massey cocktail party in a row I’m not invited to , Unfortunately, the fund isn’t yet mentioned on the Massey University Foundation’s website - it does surprise me how much of a lag there often is between putting out a release and updating websites (many institutions do this and it doesn’t work when someones Googles the item on reading a release).
Neuroscientist Making it in the World Prof Richard Faull, of the University of Auckland, was named Supreme Winner at the 2010 World Class New Zealand Awards, presented by NZ Trade and Enterprise and KEA (Kiwi Expatriates Abroad). The Royal Society of NZ and the University of Auckland have joined in congratulating Prof Faull. The University of Waikato’s Dr Ian Witten also won an award – details on all 10 winners are here.
Young Biotechnologist of the Year Dr Wayne Patrick, of Massey University, is this year’s NZBio award winner.
SIT Hub SIT has opened a new student services hub after refurbishing an existing space.
UK Budget The UK has decided to fund an extra 20,000 degree places in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, funded in part by a tax on bankers.