News 24/8 – $$ at ITPs (Win, Lose and Up In The Air)

August 24th 2010 at 8:54am, By Dave Guerin

  1. Wintec Gains $$ Wintec has kept 200 extra places it received as a one-off for 2010 in its draft investment plan for 2011 on, leading CE Mark Flowers to spin that it was a good result for Wintec as the general trend was for institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) to have their funding reduced. Good on Wintec for securing those EFTS, but there is no mention of the government funds ending in 2010 that will quite likely hit Wintec hard in the pocket – it’s those funds that may lead to a ITP sector funding decline, not the student places.
  2. Whitireia Lost $$ People seem to be moving on at Whitireia, knuckling down to the hard work of sorting out the mess at the students’ assn.
  3. WITT’s Up in the Air $$ WITT had an admirably frank discusison on their invetsment plan in public yesterday.
  4. CPIT Win CPIT’s School of Food and Hospitality has won the 2010 Nestlé Toque d’Or culinary competition at the New Zealand Culinary Fare in Auckland.
  5. Building Quals WITT and the Open Poly have announced a partnership over construction courses, whereby a basic WITT programme will use OP materials and staircase into OP quals – will be interesting to see if OP can do more of this sort of thing.
  6. Cleaners’ Dispute The Service and Food Workers’ Union is going to the Employment Court this week on behalf of Massey Uni cleaners dismissed by their employer (a subcontractor to Massey). The SFWU has asked Massey VC Steve Maharey to intervene.
  7. Top Teacher There’s a profile here of Scott Bregman, Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award winner from WelTec.
  8. Top Model The second person to be eliminated from NZ Next Top Model is a Warariki fashion student.
  9. Death & Dying Waikato Uni’s Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell is embarking on a three-year research project to gather information on Māori families’ experiences of death and dying, and the processes associated with end of life
  10. Booze University of Canterbury Students’ Association president Nick McDonnell said the proposal showed a “disconnect” between politicians and young people. In other news, a 17 year old was found over the alcohol limit driving out of Telford Rural Polytechnic last Friday night, which is one of several alcohol-related issues there recently. I’m reasonably happy with the government’s changes, other than the age issue (which I think should stay the same), as they seem to be taking some practical steps that will change attitudes over time without going over the top. Outlawing everything, as some have wanted, won’t make the change – it was illegal for that young person to leave Telford after drinking, for example.
  11. Bits and Pieces Boris Pfahringer (University of Waikato) won a bronze medal, as did other NZers, at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Otago Uni academics have released research on Maori cancer rates. Another Otago Uni academic has commented on the potential shift of a Catholic altar.

3 Responses to News 24/8 – $$ at ITPs (Win, Lose and Up In The Air)

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Mary

August 25th, 2010 at 8:50 am

HI Dave

I wondered what you thought of the logic used in the WITT discussion — in particular the suggestion that they should avoid ” finding an underperforming student programme and dumping it, or getting more international students” and instead ask the TEC to find an extra $300,000.

In the current environment that probably means something like 40 or 50 kids being told they can’t get into university this coming year.

Does that make keeping an underperforming course seem OK?

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Tim Renner

August 26th, 2010 at 9:41 am

Sorting out the independent student association at Whitireia is a problem which touches all of the polytechnic staff at the current time, with public outrage at the student association tarnishing the polytechnic as well. The polytechnic now grapples with the limitations of the Act governing student associations throughout New Zealand tertiary institutions.
Moving beyond advisory and supportive actions, the polytechnic now has a moral obligation to Whitireia students to see the independent student association meet a number of governance and management requirements in a set time frame. Whitireia independent student association are knuckling down to this work and Whitireia polytechnic will continue to report on its progress through our journalism programme newsroom http://www.newswire.co.nz .
Tim Renner
Director, Communications and Marketing

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Dave Guerin

August 27th, 2010 at 4:41 pm

Sorry for the late reply Mary. It’s a good question and I’d like to deal with it in a post next week. And Tim, I might do a new post on WISA next week too.

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