There are two posts coming up this morning. At 10.30, a story on new degrees by Harrods and Wal-Mart will be posted. At 11.45, a video with some food for thought on engaging young people will go up. If you want something now, the news below is full of good stories and there has been strong debate in the comments in the last two days (you can access comments via the sidebar at right).

1. Security Scandal The scandal of the security firm that gave its staff answers to ETITO assessments continues, with the whistleblower having been sacked. Her union, Unite, is on the case and asserts that she was fired for speaking to the media and releasing the assessor guide(s) to the union. There are two sides to every story, but this doesn’t look good for the employer. TV3 covered the issue last night and couldn’t get any comment from the employer, but did get comments from the (ex) employee, Unite and ETITO. Unite is still running the line that the cheating practice is rife in the security industry but hasn’t put up any more evidence yet. The Dominion Post, which investigated the original story, has more detail this morning, as does the ODT.
2. Extra PTE Money? The TEU has developed an item from one of our ED Insider reports into a bigger story – Steven Joyce said last week that he was keen to address the capital component denied to PTEs and the TEU has got comment from the Greens and Labour. In the sidebar of that link, you’ll see other good TEU stories on new funding rates and a deal for parents at the University of Auckland.
3. Undie 500 TV3 covered the Undie 500 site in Seddon, Marlborough.
4. New PBRF Guidelines The TEC has got good business support for the new PBRF guidelines, released yesterday.
5. Conferences The University of Canterbury is running a two-day symposium on Antarctic politics next week. The University of Auckland is running a conference on white collar crime and serious fraud.
6. Want to Link to STEO? STEO, an MOE site that caters to the data side of tertiary education, had has its copyright policy criticised by Russell Brown on top blog Public Address. He’s concerned that STEO and other sites require you to ask for permission before you link to their site - oops, now I’m in trouble! What a silly policy. I’m with Russell on this one.
7. Job Cuts at Massey and NMIT NZPA covered the TEU’s media release about 53 jobs being axed at Massey University (and The Manawatu Standard has a little more detail), but NMIT is looking to cut 20 FTES as part of a drive to save $2m pa. Programmes will also be cut from 90 to 80. The full consultation document will go to staff in late July.
8. SIT Hostel Criticised SIT’s Grand Hall of Residence is under fire for poor conditions again today, with a long article and an editorial in The Southland Times.
9. Maori Course At Risk WITT’s course in the Taranaki Maori dialect is at risk due to low enrolments but various options are being explored.
10. Maori Art Book A Massey PhD student has had a book on the visual language of Maori art published.
11. Farmers and  Science Jon Morgan, a specialist agriculture writer, has written a great piece for the Dominion Post on a technology transfer workshop at Massey University (with AgResearch input) where 250 farmers attended and 80 were turned away. Have a read of it as it’s a great case study of how science, or research in general, can be linked to real world productivity improvements. Imagine if we could do this in more sectors across the economy.
12. Research University of Auckland researchers are taking part in a worldwide trial of a polypill - four pills in one – to treat cardiac disease, while others have found that a drug can help to repair noise-induced hearing loss. An Otago Uni associate professor has written on the impact of genetics on heart disease. I meant to cover this a few weeks ago, but Vic’s Wetox sludge processing product got some good coverage by US magazine Fast Company. Other Otago Uni researchers are trying to work out if dogs know when humans are sad or angry.
13. New Music University of Auckland staff are looking into new music technologies - I quite like John Coulter’s “‘Speaking Stick’, a hollowed manuka branch combined with wireless digital technologies, emits rich and deep bassoon-like tones, as well as the sounds of the New Zealand forest, as it is played and moved about the stage”.
14. Top Rowers/Boxers/Programmers Two Otago Uni rowers are off to the world university rowing champs in Hungary. Bay of Plenty Poly pool guard and gym instructor is also a top boxer and is trying to raise money to get to the world champs in Barbados. The Auckland Uni OneBeep technology team is confident ahead of their Microsoft Imagine Cup world competition in Poland.
15. Exhibitions A Canty Uni lecturer has an exhibition down that way, while AUT has worked with the Akld City Council on an exhibition with scale models of Akld through time - I’d been waiting for some images for that.