1. Wings Clipped The flight training school that was the focus of a bad IEAA report has closed down. The Wings Flight Training Academy owner said the students were out to get him: “RP Singh is like an innocent-looking rabbit in the forest when you’ve got 10 greyhounds trying to kill him”. I challenge people in trouble to come up with a better quote this year J
2. Glass The Wanganui Glass School’s low enrolments are stirring discussion in the town.
3. New Media Centre Whitireia has moved into a new, much more modern, space after exiting its earthquake prone Wellington Media Centre premises.
4. Treasury BIM The TEU’s Sandra Grey had a post on The Standard last week about Treasury’s BIM – it’s a good opinion piece (here’s a relevant story about mature career changers). Kerre Woodham writes a piece on the same issue claiming that elitism is good – one of her commenters says “university study is a drain on society and serves only to allow communism to find sympathisers”. Hmm.
5. Fake Quals The Commerce Commission is investigating Genesis Eight International College of Security, a security training operator that wasn’t NZQA registered (RNZ). Apparently the operator plagiarised material from Wintec and TSSL (a PTE)
6. Extras: Labour’s David Shearer visited Massey; progress on Otago Uni neurological chair fundraising (plus another story); The Press covers Rod Carr’s salary issues; proposed Christchurch heating system might involve CPIT; visit to Waikato by Chinese university partner; export education links with China; new Pasifika centre at Canterbury; an interesting piece on Asian student experiences in NZ (and a more formal article quoting Auckland’s Manying Ip).

Research & Innovation

1. Kauri Rings Auckland’s Anthony Fowler and colleagues have used kauri rings to deduce how affected we will be by El Nino/ La Nina (SMC, Stuff, NZ Herald, RNZ, AAP, TV3).
2. Storm Petrels Auckland’s Matt Rayner and others have found good evidence of NZ storm petrels breeding in the Hauraki Gulf – they’re only 35g and it’s hard to find them on land (Fairfax, RNZ).
3. Population The population research by Natalie Jackson and a student has generated stories on Waitaki population and Tararua/Waitaki along with earlier stories. It’s a good example of how to generate many stories by providing local angles.
4. Ethics Changes Various Otago and Auckland academics are concerned about changes to government ethics committees.
5. Extras: Otago Uni’s PhD student looking at time banking, Ken Hodge on master’s competitors and Jill Paris on literacy research in Southland; more on Otago Uni’s HIV research (and again and again); Canterbury links with venture capital; Massey hosting finance research conference; Victoria’s Prof Sir Paul Callaghan on clean-tech; Massey’s Steve Corbett on a story about invention; sticK on KiwiNet’s new portal.

Public Issues

1. Public Academics The NZ Herald had a piece traversing the issue of whether there are enough public academics in New Zealand. Personally, having trawled through academics’ public comments for the last two years, I can’t see any great problem at all. Many, many academics are engaged in public debate in New Zealand. In fact, I decided last month to do a monthly recognition of a public academic – first one will be in February.
2. Academic-Bashing? Auckland’s Margaret Mutu has written in Australian academic discussion blog The Conversation about her experiences of “academic-bashing”. Now she overstates it when she says she was nearly “sacked” (Auckland was appropriately supportive of her throughout) but she makes some good points about the public response to her comments about immigration. On the other hand, she did engage in an emotive issue and did not present any particular evidence to support her views (either then or in this latest post), although I imagine the people who emailed her did not present their arguments in as civil a manner as she did.
3. Brothels Otago Uni’s Gillian Abel and Victoria’s Dena Knight comment on brothel regulation.
4. Class Size Massey’s Prof John O’Neill criticises proposals to increase class sizes (Manawatu Standard).
5. Farm Sales AUT’s Rawiri Taonui on farm sales.
6. Extras: Auckland’s Rhema Vaithianathan on NZ businesses; Massey’s Ted Zorn on the Air NZ CEO; WITT’s Margaret Smith on a Waitangi Day panel; Waikato’s Jagdeep Singh-Ladhar on water allocation (Waikato Times); Massey caring for 22 Rena birds; Victoria’s Peter Thompson on public broadcasting; AUT’s Brian Broom diagnoses a columnist; Massey’s Mike Joy on fish quotas.

Students

1. Liquor Ban Dunedin City Council is considering a liquor ban in the main student area of North Dunedin.
2. Olympics Profile of Waiariki Olympic kayakers.
3. Orientation… at Aoraki and Otago Uni.
4. Bullet Problem An Otago Uni student was being held in India after 3 .22 bullets were found in his luggage (Hawke’s Bay Today).
5. High Rents Auckland students are complaining of high rents – the school leaver that is the focus has to weigh up flatting or living with his parents on the North Shore and commuting. And this is a problem how?
6. Extras: Cook Islands student off to AUT, with a recent Otago Uni grad returning; Careers NZ advice to students; Auckland student trialling macular degeneration treatment; Victoria student promoting a jet board while dressed up as a penguin.

Stakeholders

1. Army Friend Auckland won top Territorial employer for their region.
2. Extras: top game at Waikato Game Jam; Otago Uni’s Mike Harte on a local UFB trust; Massey’s museum building in Wellington is being used for a film (again); Canterbury helping with a museum display; UCOL and Massey productions have received theatre award nominations; TWOA teacher in kapa haka competition.

Teaching & Learning

1. Extras: Otago Uni forensic biology summer class; Victoria architecture guest lecture; Massey’s teacher education courses start, along with a new Maori immersion course; AUT hosting a graffiti artist.

1. BIMs Treasury’s BIM sparked media releases from NZUSA’s Pete Hodkinson (opposing interest on student loans) and the TEU’s Sandra Grey (opposing shifting funding to younger students and research money to help the private sector). It is not surprising that NZUSA wasn’t too worried about shifting funding towards younger students as most student reps are…younger students. The EXMSS VP, however, has addressed the focus on younger users in a good post. Bill English said there was nothing new in what Treasury said (NewstalkZB).
2. Rod Carr’s Pay Rod Carr, Canterbury VC, has asked for no pay rise for the final two years of his term. He has better PR sense that the Christchurch City Council CEO, although that has been obvious for some years!
3. Adventure Tourism Here’s a nice profile of adventure tourism coordinator at Waiariki, Nick Chater.
4. Academic Publishing Auckland’s Siouxsie Wiles has written on current academic publishing issues, including the Elsevier boycott (she also wrote on scientist-journalist relations). The TEU also wrote about Elsevier in this week’s newsletter.
5. Extras: Otago Poly has a $1m+ funding boost this year; EXMSS is looking to expand membership beyond Massey; Andy West’s Triumph motorcycle (adjunct at Waikato).

Research & Innovation

1. HIV Data Otago Uni’s Peter Saxton and colleagues recruited 1,049 gay and bisexual men in Auckland to undergo an anonymous HIV test. 6.5% had HIV and 1.3% of the total population were unaware they had HIV (21% of those infected). This sparked many stories from the media, including One News, TV3 (earlier story), Fairfax (and again), APNZ, AAP, gaynz.com (and here and here) and RNZ. The numbers sound terrible, but unfortunately there is no explanation in the media release about their sampling approach (which may well have introduced a bias) or their population estimate. Without identifying sampling issues and margin of error, we really have no idea of whether the research really “suggests” that 6.5% of gay and bisexual men in Auckland have HIV. So then I went to the free online journal article (refereed, but not linked, to in the media release) and found that the “community settings” where participants were sourced were “a gay community fair day, gay bars and sex-on-site venues” – the first is broad (and made up 80% of respondents), but the second and third would skew the sample. There was also a 49% acceptance rate to invitations to participate, and only 80% of those who accepted an invitation supplied a sample. The paper acknowledges that these factors are study limitations but doesn’t explore them in depth. That said, the survey provides an enormous amount of data that illuminates very real health concerns. My critique is really about whether the statistic at the start of the media release is reliable enough to be the lead, especially when the NZ Aids Foundation then treated it as gospel in their release.
2. Hot House Venture capital firm powerhouse has been running a summer programme at Canterbury to mentor students and grads towards commercialising new ideas.
3. Extras: Auckland gout research.

Public Issues

1. Facebook Canterbury’s Anne-Maria Brady on Facebook and China.
2. Extras: Canterbury’s Scott Walker on American politics; Auckland’s Jane Kelsey on loss of sovereignty; US water expert speaks at Waikato.

Students

1. Bad Work Some students allege they were paid very badly and forced to work hours beyond their visa allowances.
2. Missing Out Careers New Zealand’s CE Graeme Benny has tips for students who miss out on their first study choice.
3. Extras: Wintec students to get award for hospital history; Auckland might get a 15 year old student next year.

Stakeholders

1. Tale of Two Ports While Auckland’s Port is having strife, Tauranga’s Port is giving out scholarships (SunLive)
2. Extras: CPIT picks up $80K for its ArtBox project; winners of an Auckland Games Jam held at Media Design School.

Teaching & Learning

1. Carpentry Whitireia and WelTec have set up a joint carpentry programme in and around Kapiti – nice idea.
2. Extras: Aoraki’s Diane Turner off to NY to speak at a conference.

1. What’s the biggest challenge for Universities New Zealand right now?

Continuing to build on our ability to engage with the government on the policy issues affecting universities, including university resourcing. The challenge is to achieve this through demonstrating the multiple ways the work of universities – research and innovation, internationalisation, encouraging greater participation and achievement for Maori and Pasifika peoples, etc – can help the Government achieve its goals for New Zealand.

2. How is Universities New Zealand’s new graduate survey going?

The first survey has been completed and the baseline report will be released soon. Over 65% of students invited to participate completed the survey – just under 9,000 final year students from the eight universities. This is a fantastic result that lays the foundation for the future of the longitudinal survey. Further information can be found on the GLSNZ website.

3. Steven Joyce has tertiary education, science and innovation, and economic development roles. What impact do you think that will have on universities?

There are genuine synergies between these three areas, and Minister Joyce has demonstrated he can manage multiple challenging portfolios. Universities are central to our science and innovation system, as well as the economic development of this country. Hopefully, the integration at a ministerial level will help us unlock the universities’ potential to make an even greater contribution toward helping the Government achieve its goals to the benefit of all New Zealanders.

4. What needs most attention in the research area right now?

The availability of contestable funding. While overall funding for science and innovation remained the same last year, the availability of contestable funds was significantly reduced. This is a real risk as a competitive funding model is a good way of identifying the best opportunities when you have limited resources.

5. What made you smile about the university sector this week?

The sector is preparing for the year ahead at this time and I can genuinely say I am looking forward to meeting some of 2012′s first year students. Encountering their enthusiasm for tertiary study is something that I never tire of and one of the most rewarding aspects of this job.

1. King’s Education About 100 Japanese people will fly to NZ next month to mark the year since the death of 12 Japanese King’s Education students in the CTV building.
2. Tauranga Campus The local paper thinks a new Tauranga campus will energise the city.
3. User Innovation Lincoln’s Prof John Fairweather writes about support for user innovation.
4. Neurosurgery Otago Uni neurosurgery fundraising is a third of the way to target, with bikers to help next month, but the search is already on for the right person.
5. Pasifika Success Canterbury has just opened a new centre in its college of education to help raise the achievement of Pasifika school students.
6. Extras: the Crafar farm purchasers must establish a training facility; Otago Uni’s Prof Jean Fleming recognised by Science Festival; TEU cited some OECD research (NewstalkZB); Christopher Theunissen is new MIT associate dean; Prof Sir Paul Callaghan’s childhood teacher; BOPP tutor paddler; Otago Uni mountain biker.

Research & Innovation

1. Social Alcohol Victoria and Massey researchers are looking into social networking and alcohol. As one of them says “There’s quite a furore around the dangers of young people binge drinking and doom and gloom about the impact of social networking but very few people have asked those at the centre of it what they think”, which is funny, because the researchers don’t let the young people talk in the media release either (after two years of study).
2. Extras: Otago Uni flesh-eating disease research cited, as was Lincoln food miles work and AUT work on tourism for the deaf; Massey’s kicking robot off on tour; Otago Uni literacy research; Waikato student looking at population declines in some areas (focus on Gore); Auckland helping with gout (release); Auckland’s Sue Crengle looking at ethnic discrimination; Otago Uni’s Janet Hoek on ethical consumption.

Public Issues

1. Back to School Victoria’s Roseanna Bourke is interviewed about kids’ learning.
2. Babies’ Reading Auckland’s Nola Harvey comments on a US baby reading programme – the infomercials sure do the hard sell.
3. New Bible Laidlaw College’s Bob Robinson comments on a new edition of the Bible – interesting story.
4. Occupy Otago Uni’s Andrew Geddis on Occupy Dunedin’s possible eviction.
5. Obesity Deborah Coddington has a go at Otago Uni researchers over obesity causes (Kiwiblog, Keeping Stock).
6. Extras: Otago Uni’s Winsome Purnell on the size of sweet treats and other academics at a bioethics conference and Prof Richard Barker on cricket scoring; Massey’s Steve Stannard on cyclists’ nutrition; penguins at Massey but a dotterel died; Victoria’s Marc Wilson on a Timaru cat-killer and doomsday prophecies; AUT’s Andy Gibson on the future of the Internet; Otago Uni’s Hank Wolfe on cyberwarfare; Otago Uni lake expert on the best place to race a jet; academics on food prices; Auckland’s Ian Lambie on youth violence; Lincoln’s Prof Derrick Moot on lucerne; Auckland’s Rochelle Constantine on port expansion and marine mammals; Otago Uni’s Jim Faed on stem cell treatment.

Students

1. Sonny Bill…is dating an Auckland student.
2. Student Jobs Here’s some analysis of the student employment situation.
3. Quake Experience A Canterbury student reflects on his quake-riddled year.
4. Extras: Otago Uni student off to Britain to sing in a choir; Media Design School student wins Beck’s design comp; Massey student exhibiting in Kerikeri; Waiariki kayakers; Massey student’s gaming console; SIT cricketer and motor racer; Wintec student filming some home-wreckers; Massey student and family off to Parachute.

Stakeholders

1. MOU Hawkes Bay and Massey MOU.
2. Extras: support for Lincoln’s 1080 alternative research; Wintec sponsoring a Service Jam; exhibition at Auckland gallery; Lincoln young farmer competitor.

Teaching & Learning

1. Teach First The Business Roundtable says we should give Teach First a go, but the NZ Herald reckons grads might struggle for acceptance. Funnily enough, the NZ Herald storey talks about how they “revealed” Teach First’s approach last week – since it first hit the news last April, it wasn’t really a scoop.
2. Extras: Otago Uni music summer school; UCOL trades academy.

Policy, Management & People

1. Self-Indulgent Education? A Stuff blogger is going back to study (after having 2 degrees already) and invites her readers to comment on whether she’s being self-indulgent. She gets a few of the costs wrong, suggesting that because she’s paid back her previous loans, it doesn’t matter, but fees (even under the original loan interest rates) only covered 20-30% of costs. Anyway, have a look if you’re keen.
2. New Tauranga Campus The new BOPP-Waikato-Awanuiarangi campus in Tauranga will have free use of 0.4 hectares from the Tauranga City Council. The group is also seeking $15m from the regional council and $15m from a local energy trust. That’s a lot of money, but it’s the sort of amount that other institutions pay for themselves. Good luck to the group in finding alternative funding.
3. Rowarth Move Waikato celebrates its appointment of Prof Jacqueline Rowarth (Waikato Times). She actually gets less coverage than she deserves in ED Blog because her NBR columns are usually behind a paywall..
4. Starpath Auckland’s Starpath project, which helps to improve school performance in Auckland is expanding to a wider group of schools.
5. TEC Employment Case Former TEC CFO Rochelle Leahy lost an ERA case over unjustifiable dismissal.
6. Extras: two new Waiariki managers – Rosemary Johnson and Greg Brimmer; Auckland’s Russell Snell supports Otago Uni’s new neurological chair; steel pou being installed at Massey Albany.

Research & Innovation

1. Rat Urine Victoria’s Wayne Linklater is leading a team analysing rat urine to develop better baits for trapping them.
2. Extras: AUT’s Philippa Pidgeon has a new dance routine; Otago Uni student tagging albatrosses.

Public Issues

1. PNG Auckland’s Steven Ratuva comments on the PNG situation.
2. Extras: more dead whales to be checked out by Massey; Otago Uni’s Chris Gallavin on extradition and Bryce Edwards on teapot tapes; Auckland’s Fiona Pienaar was on Breakfast to discuss toi moko; caring for penguins at Massey.

Students

1. Aoraki’s Got Talent A new Aoraki student has done well at a talent competition. You can see the video and it’s a good song.
2. Extras: UCOL Wairarapa open day; Lincoln had a Decision Day; Aoraki baking students.

Stakeholders

1. Subway Citing Subway cited some Auckland research .
2. Extras: 2degrees and its Maori partner are putting up some big money for Auckland ICT scholarships for Maori students; Massey pop-up garden.

Teaching & Learning

1. Teach First Stuart Middleton has a thoughtful piece on Teach First – essentially he says it won’t solve the larger problems around curriculum structure facing secondary schools. There’s more from another blogger here. I think both tend to overstate Teach First’s claims, which are relatively modest, if you read them closely.
2. Science Comms Blogger Grant Jacobs opines on what should be in science communication courses.
3. CAM Teaching Blogger and Waikato academic Alison Campbell writes on whether universities should teach complementary and alternative medicines.
4. Extras: Massey’s Elizabeth Gray gets teaching award.

1. Flight School Buy Helipro has bought Bay Flight Aviation, a flight school that went into liquidation.
2. Fake Quals Immigrants are being caught out by NZQA for fake (overseas) quals.
3. Extras: Massey and Hawke’s Bay Region Council signed an MOU; chat with Otago Uni Burns Fellow Fiona Farrell.

Research & Innovation

1. Extras: two Otago Uni academics are publishing a book on early NZ photography while Graeme Downes is co-authoring a book on Dunedin sounds; new musical work by Otago Uni’s Prof John Drummond and an opera by Chris Adams.

Public Issues

1. Toi Moko Revival? Waikato’s Prof Pou Temara says that some Maori are thinking about reviving the practice of preserving heads.
2. Clean and Green Mike Joy of Massey had a Dom Post op-ed on our clean and green record.
3. Extras: CPIT’s open day has speakers on Christchurch’s recovery; Victoria’s Brandon Chen on food prices; Auckland’s Duncan Ledwith on validating markets.

Students

1. Fashion Comp Students from various providers are in the 2012 iD Emerging Designer Awards in Dunedin.
2. Extras: school students at Victoria summer school; Massey triathlete; state of student jobs market; Otago Uni anatomy museum visitors; goals of new Canterbury student president; Otago Poly design student.

Stakeholders

1. Extras: glass scholarships causing waves in Wanganui.

Teaching & Learning

1. Teach First Bernadine Vester writes an op-ed in support of Teach First, noting that a six week block course is followed by ongoing education and mentoring.
2. Arts Education Auckland’s Ralph Buck helped to draft a UNESCO arts education agenda.
3. Extras: Otago Uni performance coach.

1. What’s the biggest challenge on your desk right now?

Developing, at the Minister’s request, a new business model for Ako Aotearoa, as we become more ambitious about how we best support New Zealand’s diverse tertiary education sector to provide the best possible outcomes for all learners. In return there is an expectation that we will gain more support from the sector.

2. Ako Aotearoa has helped broaden the uptake of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement? What impact has that had?

The AUSSE is a hugely powerful source of data on how students are learning. One of the things we’ve been supporting tertiary education institutions to do is to work through ways of using the complex data sets that result from using this tool. The AUSSE data identifies priorities for improvement within organisations from a learner perspective and it is really encouraging to see that many universities and ITPs are beginning to incorporate findings from their surveys into their strategic planning. It is also great to see the AUSSE results being used as a focus for collaboration for quality enhancement across different parts of the sector, in particular our recent joint publication with ACER (Student Engagement in New Zealand’s Universities) that was launched towards the end of last year.

3. What has Ako Aotearoa done lately to share ideas from Teaching Excellence Award winners?

Members of the Ako Aotearoa Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence (our association of past awards winners) continue to contribute to a wide range of professional development workshops on teaching and learning. Probably the most notable event last year with a significant contribution from the Academy was the First Year Biology Educator’s Conference held in Wellington in November.

4. What did you learn from your recent stint at TEC?

That, personally, I could make more of an impact on the quality of teaching and learning in tertiary education through Ako Aotearoa.

Lots of things. The new business model is coming together well, we are in the process of finalising dissemination plans from some great work resulting from our National projects and I am very excited about the prospect of developing a stronger three way partnership, between ourselves, the Industry Training Federation and The National Council for Vocational Education Research in Australia.

1. New TV Ads I was going to write a post about new TV ads put out by ITPs, but StopPress wrote much the same thing on Friday, so I’ll pass. It’s worth a read on cool new ads by Open Poly and MIT.
2. Innovation City Prof Sir Peter Gluckman has followed up last year’s speech on Auckland by putting a condensed version in a NZ Herald op-ed. He’s proposing an innovation city and wants some thinking about what should be in it. I smell a wider government agenda.
3. Fund a Prof The ODT is getting in behind a $3m fundraising campaign for a new neurosurgery chair at Otago Uni. So is the Southland Times, which gives more details on other organisations in the campaign. There’s also a media release on the campaign and associated stories here, here, here and here.
4. Whitireia Buildings Whitireia is planning to wipe out a lot more prefabs once its new building is up and running – they blessed the site on Friday and construction should end in a year.
5. Extras: Massey’s Steve Stannard out cycling; Aoraki’s Nicola Pearce off to Outward Bound; Christchurch enrolments; local providers’ reaction to PEI’s demise; Victoria notes the success of its Centre for Strategic Studies.

Research & Innovation

1. Alzheimer’s There’s some interesting work being done on detecting Alzheimer’s disease by Prof Cliff Abrahams at Otago Uni.
2. Extras: Auckland’s Bridget Kool on the impact of multiple medicines on falls; AUT’s Lindsey White on seaweed harvesting; exhibition co-curated by Otago Uni’s Prof Hilary Radner goes to Whangarei; Otago Uni’s Lisa Stamp recognised for early career work.

Public Issues

1. Kids’ Treadmill Who really buys their kid a treadmill? Anyway, Otago Uni’s Kim Meredith-Jones comments on the trend. Meanwhile, Auckland’s Yvonne Anderson is helping with a programme to combat child obesity in Taranaki.
2. Massey Birds Rena-affected birds will now go straight to Massey as numbers reduce, to join one last dotterel.
3. Saving Frogs Otago Uni’s Phil Bishop wants sponsorship to help save frogs.
4. Extras: Auckland’s Ian Lambie on charitable giving; Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards gets an editorial reference; Massey’s Claire McLachlan on criticism of NZ ECE; Otago Uni staff helped move a seal pup and its mum; blogger Grant Jacobs on Prof Sir Paul Callaghan’s cancer treatment; Auckland’s Basil Sharp on energy prices; Waiariki’s Narissa Bayler on uploading fight videos; AUT’s Kelly Sheerin on barefoot running; Otago Uni’s Mark Henaghen on healthcare and trust and Doug Sellman on alcohol; Victoria’s Peter Barrett and Lincoln’s Shannon Page went to protest lignite mining in Southland (release); AUT’s Vernon Rive on climate change agreements.

Students

1. Music Making Auckland’s Alex Taylor makes a list of musicians to watch in 2012.
2. Extras: early school leaver’s experience – worth a read; Nanocamp for school students at Victoria while others studied science at Otago Uni; OUSA is fixing some squash courts; the student who drowned in Wellington turned out to be a current Otago Poly, and former Otago Uni, student; Dunedin student rentals; Waikato nursing student selling a tattoo on her butt.

Stakeholders

1. A Cute Uni Museum Artist Christine Hellyar is doing an exhibition based on Auckland’s McGregor Museum, which I have just discovered and looks quite interesting (if specialised). Well worth checking out for the science geek.
2. Extras: Auckland monitoring ecohouse; Wanganui’s Council is supporting accommodation for glass students (Wanganui Chronicle); photography exhibition at Victoria.

Teaching & Learning

1. Apple’s Textbooks Apple launched their new textbook software last week and I suspect it won’t shine given its proprietary bounds, but more importantly it’s just another signal of the changing textbook market. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a good review.
2. Teach First…is getting ready to recruit its first students into its condensed teacher education programme (NewstalkZB, AAP). There was a follow-up story today.
3. Extras: UCOL Rangitikei trades academy story.

1. PEI Post-Mortem The Taranaki Daily News did an editorial and story on Practical Education Institute yesterday. They have finally found TEC course completion stats on TEC’s website and it’s interesting that it’s only now, exactly a month after they first broke the story, that they found those figures. It reinforces for me how poorly TEC highlights that data – it’s supposed to help students, while professional journalists can’t easily find it. Anyway, the Daily News is finally bringing some more useful context to the closure – PEI’s poor results. NewstalkZB quotes local mayor Harry Duynhoven on the closure and the impact on staff.
2. 4^th Generation Melanie Bunce is the fourth generation of females in her family to teach at Otago Uni.
3. UC Enrolments Canterbury’s Rod Carr is navigating a fine line between saying enrolments are OK, encouraging new enrolments and not suggesting they’re in trouble. I think he’s doing it well. No-one’s picked up the media release, but the messaging could just as easily be aimed at competitors and agents.
4. Extras: Michael Morrissey is new Waikato writer in residence; honours for Auckland staff; Otago Poly blokarter; extra places for EIT trades academy; EIT merger process rolls on; new EIT associate professors.

Research & Innovation

1. Corruption Victoria’s Ron Fischer and Seini O’Connor have found that corruption declines with rising incomes – anyone surprised? I would have thought a simple correlation of GDP/capita and Transparency International rankings would have told you that.
2. Extras: NMIT tutors put on an art exhibition; Victoria drug research.

Public Issues

1. Yous Victoria’s Laurie Bauer has a nice take on the difference between you and yous.
2. Smoking Otago Uni smoking research has been picked up with most focusing on high rates amongst kohanga reo teachers (ODT, NZH).
3. Generational Advantage Otago Uni’s David Fergusson has found that kids from richer families do better (ODT).
4. Extras: Otago Uni’s Bruce Robertson on sea lions and Prof Mark Henaghen on the Turangi case; dead kakapo to be checked out at Massey; Waikato’s Pawel Olsewski commenting on a really drunk person and Auckland’s Niki Harre on a similar case; Massey’s Mike Joy on fish ropes; Otago Poly’s Daniel Pfyl making beef olives; Auckland’s Julia Tolmie has chaired a group looking at family violence deaths; world’s first (?) magazine on display at Otago Uni; Massey’s David Trip on Oz banks’ staff cuts and Kiwibank’s purchase of GMI; oiled birds released from Massey; NMIT’s Alan Barnes on the building outlook; Canterbury’s Stefano Pampanin on the Grand Chancellor building (The Press).

Students

1. Debating Jargon I have a friend who is keen on debating and he’s always tweeting about teams “breaking” or “making the octo-finals” and I never really have any idea about what he’s on about. This media release from Auckland debaters uses the same jargon that detracts from their good performance in Manila. Victoria debaters did well too.
2. NZer of the Year Auckland’s Lizzie Chan is up for Young NZer of the year.
3. Extras: UCOL grad’s exhibition; Victoria Summer Shakespeare; CPIT lecturer and Canterbury student has successful blog; Waikato student did homeless shelter feasibility study.

Stakeholders

1. Extras: Massey ECE teacher does performing arts teaching; Otago Uni’s Judy Bellingham at a summer singing school; rental demand in student towns; EIT student gets Mission scholarship.

Teaching & Learning

1. Tour Course I quite like Excel School of Performing Arts’ tour course, where students spend the year touring the country (and Poland/Germany for part of it). What a great idea.
2. Extras: UCOL trades academy; NorthTec prison training;

1. PEI There are more stories on Practical Education Institute’s closure from RNZ (2,700 students and 700 EFTS, with 80% being on the course for which funding was cut), NewstalkZB and NZN.
2. Whitireia Theatre The local community paper has a story on Whitireia’s pulling out of funding a local theatre and I do love the Roger Sowry comment: “There wasn’t any public consultation because it’s not public money, it’s education money.”
3. Extras: mother and daughter maths team at Massey; story on ex Waikato Prof James Milroy;

Research & Innovation

1. Franchising Massey’s Susan Flint-Hartle has looked into conflict in franchise relationships (NewstalkZB, Idealog).
2. Extras: Otago Uni’s Prof Richard Edwards on smoking by occupation;

Public Issues

1. Fear of Bugs Massey’s Steve Trewick feature son a long story about bugs around us and how we interact with them.
2. Grand Chancellor The quake-induced problems of the Grand Chancellor hotel in Christchurch have been reviewed by Canterbury’s Stefano Pampanin (The Press, Star Canterbury).
3. Extras: Otago Uni’s Ian Jamieson on robin breeding and John Guthrie on Olympic shearing; Rena penguin update and Waikato’s Prof Chris Battershill on testing a shark; visiting Otago Uni lecturer on judicial transparency; WITT watermelon recipes;

Students

1. Discrimination? An Indian Unitec grad can’t get a job as a mechanic. A local business operator has some unfortunate comments.
2. Extras: awards for EIT cadets; Massey runner;

Teaching & Learning

1. Science Degree Aoraki and CPIT have agreed a pathway into CPIT’s science degree.
2. Extras: EIT’s new Central Hawke’s Bay trade programme; Oamaru summer school.