1. Whitireia Buildings Whitireia has pulled out of a $3m contribution to a performing arts development in Porirua, both because they’ve moved their course into Wellington and approved a $20m development at Porirua for classrooms etc to replace prefabs. It’s upset some people in Porirua, but it’s hard to fault the priorities.
2. Industry Training The MOE will be getting a strong submission from Horticulture NZ on the industry training review.
3. Congrats Richard Richard Handley, WITT CE, has been congratulated by iwi on meeting Treaty responsibilities.
4. Titles Race? Ha ha, last week I suggested that Auckland’s appointment of 13 Distinguished Professors might start an arms race around titles and now Lincoln has named one! To be fair, the decision would have been made before Auckland’s release, but it does look like a developing trend anyway.
5. VSM Hearing Te Mana Akonga has apparently gained a Waitangi Tribunal hearing into its claims about VSM legislation.
6. Tough Competition The Spirit of Adventure is running a special trip for unemployed 17-20 year olds.
7. Raukawa App Te Wananga O Raukawa has had some bad news recently but I just came across this cool app they have, eWai, that has waiata tawhito on it. If I have it correctly, they are the traditional chants heard on marae.
8. Extras: Victoria now has the triple crown of business school accreditation; Methven summer school enrolments; new construction and student facilities at UCOL Wairarapa.

Research & Innovation

1. Food Science Lincoln’s first professor of food science, Charles Brennan, sees a bright future in the area for NZ.
2. Extras: Auckland cigarette research; three Canterbury researchers to give papers at human-computer interaction conference; new Victoria climate change book.

Public Issues

1. Aviation Oddity The person who allegedly impersonated Massey’s Frank Sharp, head of the aviation school, in an email that was entered into evidence at a coroner’s inquiry into an aviation accident has been revealed. It turns out that Peter Kirker, a CAA employee (he resigned last week), may have sent the email but the charges will be defended. This is very odd, but has got media coverage from RNZ, NewstalkZB, APNZ, APNZ, One News, NZN, Dom Post, Fairfax and Fairfax.
2. Summer Reading Massey’s Prof Tom Nicholson has devised a kids summer reading programme, funded by a donation, to stop kids falling back in reading ability during the break.
3. Charter Schools Auckland’s Peter O’Connor gets a swerve from Karl Du Fresne over charter schools views.
4. Extras: Unitec’s Keith Rankin on the global debt crisis; Massey’s Chris Wilkins on the war on P; Auckland’s Michael Littlewood on KiwiSaver; Otago Uni’s Najib Lafraie on an Otago Museum exhibition; Waiariki’s Narissa Bayler on social media tribute pages; WITT’s Robyn Trewern making salads.

Students

1. SVA Nelson The Student Volunteer Army is heading off to help in Nelson.
2. Glacier Art Auckland student Amelia Hitchcock collaborated with Massey’s Martin Brook and Rob Dykes to create art on a glacier lake.
3. EIT…fashion end of year show (nice pics) and art exhibition.
4. Extras: Canterbury grads get fire safety design awards in Singapore.

Stakeholders

1. Squid AUT is showing off its giant squid at Auckland Museum this summer.
2. Rowing Lincoln’s Martin Berka is rowing across the Tasman (with a group) but is battling a bad foot infection (release).
3. Extras: Unitec’s Jamie Lane is also a top snowboarding coach/selector; Otago Uni’s Dave Gerrard moonlights as the chair of the Drowning Prevention Council; Waikato’s Prof David Hamilton helping improve lake quality; Massey is supporting a new Wellington Fashion Week.

Teaching & Learning

1. Extras: ATITO’s first carding technician grad; EIT’s new music programme.

1. New Ministers John Key announced new Ministers yesterday, with Steven Joyce keeping tertiary education (adding “skills and employment” too) and picking up economic development, plus science and innovation – Hekia Parata gained education (all the following stories are pretty generic: NewstalkZB, NewstalkZB, RadioLIVE, Kapiti Independent, APNZ, NZ Herald, NZ Herald, RNZ, BusinessDesk, Idealog, One News, Stuff, NBR, TV3). Reaction came from TEU, Universities NZ, NZUSA, frogblog. Later stories focused on Steven Joyce’s key role, including NZ Herald, NZ Herald and Fairfax.
2. Raukawa Funding Cut Te Wananga O Raukawa has had a $1.9m funding cut for next year after a second year of poor course completions in 2010 – they went from 42% to 43% (updated story and again). The new target is 55%, the level at which PTEs are offered zero funding. The wananga is claiming they should be measured according to their Kaupapa but the other two wananga get course completions in the 70s and 80s. Personally, I haven’t seen any credible argument to explain why they should be allowed to continue their low performance. I covered the issue back in August.
3. New NZUSA Prez NZUSA has elected its first ITP President ever – Pete Hodkinson of Unitec. They also recently appointed Alistair Shaw as Executive Director.
4. Aoraki Growth Aoraki expects to grow next year and has finalised a new collective agreement.
5. Extras: Winnie Laban seeking more Pasifika students for Victoria (release);

Research & Innovation

1. Higgs Boson Victoria’s Prof Shaun Hendy comments on the possible discovery of the Higgs boson, as does Massey’s Prof Tony Signal.
2. Low Carbon Transport Auckland’s Jamie Hosking helped write a WHO report on low carbon transport systems released in Durban.
3. Extras: AUT business incubation conference; Antonia Lyons on social networking and alcohol; Massey goat research;

Public Issues

1. Extras: Auckland’s Glenn Simmons on slavery in fisheries; Massey’s emeritus Prof Ivan Snook cited on charter schools; Victoria’s Gerard Kennedy on sleep;

Students

1. Graduate Success Canterbury is claiming high graduate employment on the back of a larger survey response.
2. Design The Dom Post had a long story profiling Victoria design students’ creations.
3. Extras: Victoria cheerleader and research into weeds on Nauru; top squash player off to AUT; student/club grants by OUSA;

Stakeholders

1. Jazz Tui…award nominations have been gained by Massey’s Phil Broadhurst.
2. Extras: Otago Poly’s Jean Ross getting involved in nursing politics;

Teaching & Learning

1. Extras: tributes for (I think ex-) head of NMIT’s fisheries school, who died while tramping;

1. Joyce’s Roles The NZ Herald reckons that Steven Joyce can “expect to leap to a front-bench position and the economic development and science and innovation portfolios as well as hanging on to tertiary education”. That’s been my pick for some time too.
2. Ad Complaint Unitec had a complaint made to the Advertising Standards Authority about one of their ads. The complaint wasn’t upheld, but it claimed that “”Trade skills are in demand. Join the supply. Get a headstart with apprentice training.” was misleading as the building industry was very tight. Unitec welcomed the decision. It’s probably good to test tertiary education marketing claims from time to time though. Here’s the actual decision.
3. BEST Year The Best Leadership Academy is celebrating a year of operation.
4. Weatherston Work Otago Uni has deleted some work by former tutor and convicted murderer Clayton Weatherston from an online archive. The father of his victim is happy but I don’t think that it was a good idea to delete the work.
5. Trademarks Issues Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, soon to start in Wellington, has had a trademark application turned down.
6. Extras: Victoria Chancellor/Pro-Chancellor re-elected; student services fee story; Sean Plunket on Whitireia’s journalism school building closure; new Nelson pilot training school is very confidential…; building leased by Victoria for academics is strengthened.

Research & Innovation

1. Internet AUT’s Prof Allan Bell has led the NZ part of the World Internet Project survey of Internet use (ComputerWorld, NZ Herald, Dom Post).
2. Repatriation A Neurological Foundation grant is leading to the repatriation of a NZ researcher to Auckland.
3. Whale Head Otago Uni’s Prof Ewan Fordyce dissected a whale’s head.
4. Extras: more criticism of ant research at Victoria; Auckland’s electric vehicle deal; Victoria PhD’s cancer research (Dom Post); Massey’s Antonia Lyons looking at youth drinking and social networking (RNZ); Otago Uni’s Pauline Gulliver on child maltreatment (NZ Herald, release); Otago Uni’s Prof Richard Cannon gets award for oral disease research.

Public Issues

1. Windy Wellington Victoria’s Michael Donn on building for windy Wellington.
2. Politics Canterbury’s John Mitchell on the Maori Party‘s coalition goals (and Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards and AUT’s Rawiri Taonui). After the deal with National was agreed AUT’s Ian Hassall liked the poverty committee and Bryce Edwards said not very much.
3. Alcohol Two Anti-alcohol lobbyists from Otago Uni concerned about a survey not being released (TV3).
4. Extras: Canterbury’s emeritus Prof John Cookson on Christchurch heritage; Auckland’s Katie Fitzpatrick and AUT’s Grant Schofield on kids’ exercise; Victoria’s David Stewart on Kirkcaldies; Massey’s David Tripe on covered bonds; Auckland financial market regulation conference; review of Waikato River book by ex-Waikato Prof John McCraw; Massey’s Malcolm Wright on fuel discounts; Canterbury’s Ken Daniels on fertility ethics; AUT’s Paul White on a fizzy drink’s marketing; Canterbury mobile phone app; Otago Uni’s Prof Julian Crane takes aim at kids allergy advice; Otago Uni’s Stephanie Moor on kids’ post-quake anxiety.

Students

1. Chasing a Job Some top Media Design School grads climbed scaffolding outside an ad agency to show off their work – nice initiative.
2. Remaking Denniston A Victoria grad designed a new vision for mining ghost town Denniston.
3. Vet Calendar The Massey students’ vet calendar has raised lots of money for charity (Dom Post).
4. Moose Film Two Otago Uni students have made a doco about Fiordland moose.
5. Virginia Tech A NZ student was at Virginia Tech when the shooting occurred.
6. Extras: SIT student finishing nursing degree just after having a baby; Massey design student’s idea for trucks; 14 year old off to Otago Uni; Otago Uni golfer, runner, rower and Otago Poly snowsports grad; Waikato students get police commendations; two WITT students with a great back-story; the role of TV dramas in medical careers; school science student’s project overseen by Auckland academics.

Stakeholders

1. Adventure Ed NMIT has gained industry accreditation for its adventure tourism course.
2. Painted Pianos – nice photos from the Canterbury student initiative.
3. Extras: Massey cycling venue unlikely; graduations helping Dunedin retailers; Canterbury’s Prof Michael Endres raising money for Christchurch; Waiariki’s Narissa Bayler helped a 9 year old raise money for Christchurch; Isla McRae, who helped Wintec and Massey, died; Otago Uni might host court cases if Dunedin’s courthouse is closed.

Teaching & Learning

1. 3D Degree Media Design School has gained approval for a visual effects and 3D degree.
2. Extras: a debate on whether chiropractic education is worth it or a have.