I caught the first bug of winter today, so sorry about the delay in this news post.

1. Go to WelTec, Not VUW WelTec has swooped in to encourage students turned away from VUW because of closed enrolments to do an engineering degree with WelTec.
2. Teachers’ Council Revolts …against new teachers with poor literacy, although the Council’s Director notes that the problem is not acute and offers no evidence of the problem. The University of Waikato helpfully points out that they are OK, as are the other universities.
3. KAREN Grows Network AUT’s radio telescope at Warkworth has been connected to KAREN, a step along the way to the Square Kilometre Array. Karen is also expanding to Taranaki, which will support WITT.
4. Tertiary High School MIT’s Tertiary High School is to be opened by Education Minister Anne Tolley on Friday.
5. University of Otago It’s one of those high-news days, so Otago University is:
   • reviewing its printing department;
   • has had a positive reaction to its campus master plan (main Otago website on campus plan here), under which it will need 50% more spaceover the next 25 years – you can see some images of the plans at this Channel 9 story;
   • might upgrade the Water of Leith, which runs through the campus, from a drainage ditch to a more natural form;
   • might address the student “ghetto” around the university, in partnership with the City Council;
6. ODT on Science The ODT has written an editorial on science funding, criticising the government a bit, but mainly bemoaning long-term trends of under-investment in science.
7. Massey Gondola Could Work …according to the promoters, but everyone else seems to think pigs might fly first, including me. I covered the gondola proposal from Palmerston North to Massey University yesterday.