2010 September

Archive for September, 2010

30 Sep 2010

Tax Cuts TVNZ did a story last night on how people earning no money of their own won’t benefit from tax cuts, which is not surprising in itself. The larger issue is that student allowances apparently aren’t being adjusted for the increase in GST The student featured had a mix of allowances and loans, and parental support, up… Read Full Story.

News 29/9 – Great TEI Finances, Homeless at Unitec and Legal Outrage

29 Sep 2010

Great Finances Universities, wananga and ITPs have finances to die for, according to the Minister for Tertiary Education (NZPA story and Herald story with more detail). Universities NZ agree that universities are great financial managers, but argue that they just don’t have enough money(heard that before?). Funnily enough, it is of course the core negotiating period for 2011 funding, so… Read Full Story.

EPIs: Robustness and Meaning (Tony Smith)

In: Funding|ITPs|Policy|Statistics & Analysis|Tertiary Education

28 Sep 2010

This is a guest post by Tony Smith of Tontine Consultants – tontine@xtra.co.nz Based on the data released so far, I have major reservations over the validity of the qualification completion EPI. Like most others, I strongly support the release of the EPIs, and believe that there has been plenty of time for providers to get their data… Read Full Story.

(1) Comment
Tags: Completions, Guest Post, TEC

News 28/9 – Competenz and the Billionaire. Chch Beatup. WorldSkills.

28 Sep 2010

Competenz’s Billionaire Link In an embarrassing story, a Competenz manager has been linked by TVNZ to a story of a fake billionaire. There’s not that much to the Competenz aspect really, but who wants that link with your brand? Best Bus Driver Tranzqual has named Riki Katene as NZ’s best bus driver after a national competition. Chch Beatup… Read Full Story.

News 27/9 – VSM Melee, Saving a Turtle and Marsden Fund $$

27 Sep 2010

VSM The bill that could create voluntary student membership was reported back from the select committee on Friday afternoon and there was an orgy of media releases, and even a few media stories. ACT’s Heather Roy (the Bill’s promoter) urged the National party to vote for the Bill. NZUSA stressed that 98% of submissions opposed the bill so… Read Full Story.

VSM Bill Reported Back

In: Parliament|Policy|Students|Tertiary Education

24 Sep 2010

The Education (Freedom of Assoication) Amendment Bill – otherwise known as the VSM Bill – has been reported back by the Education and Science Committee (HT Kiwiblog). I’ll be reviewing it for ED Insider and will probably make some general comments on this site too. Guests posts from either side of the debate are very welcome too (just use… Read Full Story.

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Tags: VSM

News 24/9 – Batcave Scientists, Loan Cuts and VSM Nears

24 Sep 2010

Scientists in the Batcave Did you know that University of Canterbury scientists have been building giant lasers in caves under the Cashmere hills for almost 20 years? It makes me think of that paranoid song that repeats over and over “What is he doing in there?” Well, now they have $870K to build a bigger one. This initiative could… Read Full Story.

(5) Comments
Tags: Labour, Massey University, NZUSA, Otago Polytechnic, Student Loans and Allowances, TEU, Unitec, University of Auckland, University of Canterbury, VSM, WelTec

Careerforce CE Steps Down

In: ITOs|Tertiary Education

23 Sep 2010

Careerforce has put out a media release saying that their CE George Nimmo has retired (George formerly headed up Tai Poutini Polytechnic). The retirement is not a surprise given the major changes at board level there this year. After years of ructions between industry groups, that has now settled down and it’s probably a good idea to have… Read Full Story.

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Tags: Careerforce

News 23/9 – Loans for Grades, Art/Twitter Attacks, Anthrax and More

23 Sep 2010

Loans for Grades NZUSA’s David Do was on Breakfast TV this morning talking about student loans access being based on grades. Art Attack A group of “ArTarts” planted crosses in the shape or “Arts” on the Otago Uni’s education faculty lawn. It was a protect against job cuts – check out the ODT for the photo. Twitter Attack Craccum… Read Full Story.

News 22/9 – VSM, Academic Fight and New Trades in Schools

22 Sep 2010

VSM Final Push NZUSA is calling for politicians to heed the 4,400 submissions on the VSM Bill. Apparently 98% of submissions were against the Bill – although many of them will have been form submissions, the VSM-opposers would also have a large majority in substantive submissions, as you’d expect really (on one side you have a set of… Read Full Story.

(1) Comment
Tags: AUT, Career Services, EIT, ETITO, Massey University, NorthTec, NZUSA, Secondary-Tertiary, University of Auckland, University of Canterbury, University of Otago, VSM, WelTec, WITT

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