News 1/7 – Allowances Boom, ITP MECA and Skill Shortages

July 1st 2010 at 8:05am, By Dave Guerin

  1. Allowances Boom in 09 Steven Joyce was on Morning Report yesterday talking about student allowances increases in 2009, while NZUSA put out a release about it too. Allowances eligibility was loosened, while enrolments went up.
  2. Tainui College The -Tainui College for Research and Development has its first academic director. The buildings were built ten years ago but have always been something of a white elephant, so I hope they can get something off the ground.
  3. Undie 500 is Go The Undie 500 will end up in Seddon, in Marlborough. A landowner was shocked by all the hostility and thought it would be fine: “I don’t see how having a concert in a country venue would produce similar circumstances. The environment in Dunedin is unique; it’s a student ghetto. It’s very cold, and they need to light fires”.
  4. Massey Cuts Massey University is cutting 53 jobs according to the TEU, mostly in admin and across all three campuses.
  5. Cocktails A wee story on cocktails focusing on a CPIT tutor was in The Press.
  6. Ad School You can check out some of the work from AUT’s adschool here (click the link in the story to see the ads)
  7. Skill Shortages Wellington giveaway the Capital Times is investigating why there are skill shortages. It’s a good story with WelTec and the Electricity Supply ITO quoted, along with some links to immigrtaion policy – the lovely Bruce Robertson of Hanz covers that issue. The same paper profiles HSI’s Modern Apprentice of the Year.
  8. Aoraki Night Classes Aoraki Polytechnic is offering night English language classes, on the request of two Koreans working locally, but obviously they’re hoping for more attendees.
  9. Architecture Lectures The University of Auckland is holding a series of public lectures on architecture with some high profile local and international speakers.
  10. Turgid Media Release of the Week Some University of Canterbury language, brain and behaviour researchers have waded into the discussion about Len Brown’s odd hand gestures, but they should take a lesson in writing a media release from their journalism school - they don’t tell you who is writing it, or the point of it, until 3 paragraphs in.
  11. Clinical Research Victoria Uni is launching a postgraduate diploma in clinical research with Capital Coast DHB.
  12. ITP MECA to Settle? It looks like the ITP MECA will be settled, albeit in a temporary six-month form, while more time is taken to work out the big issues. TEU members are to vote on the deal, but the supporting papers suggest that it’s a done deal, with pros exceeding cons. While it will mean renewal of the collective agreement, there is only $700 maximum per staff member and some minor technical changes. The TEU and employers will be back at the negotiating table soon to deal with outstanding issues.
  13. Otago Corner The University of Otago held a dance symposium last week, while two flatmates have mnade th Black Ferns (one is an Otago Poly student and the other a Otago Uni graduate). There’s also a story on a dance fellow at the University. The Otago University Students’ Assn is having a governance shakeup after a working group report.
  14. Deportation A WITT tutor is fighting to save his son from deportation after he got into legal trouble.
  15. Lonely SpeakingA Massey student has won a 3-minute thesis speech competition - her topic was loneliness.
  16. Vampire Research A Massey lecturer moonlights in vampire research, and has had a paper published in the Vampires and Zombies: Transnational Transformations journal (really, there is such a journal).

Comment Form

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  • Dave Guerin: My guess Jim is that we should take two zeros off all the numbers :) [...]
  • Jim Doyle: 50,000 - 65,000, 150,000 EFTS??? [...]
  • Dave Guerin: Those issues of Treasury's rationale are well worth wider discussion Stephen. [...]
  • Dave Guerin: comments on Yahoo are amongst the most colourful, especially since various commenters have running b [...]
  • Stephen Day: Yeah, I just about fell off my chair laughing when I read the 'communism' comment under Woodham's co [...]

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