I just don’t see how universities can reconcile current enrolment practices with traditional academic standards. If there is one thing the New Zealand economy needs at present it is much more competitive entry (based solely on proven academic ability) into university and a re-assertion of academic standards.

Towards the end of the post, he asks the following question – I imagine you can guess his answer!

Do we want universities where the sole imperative is traditional academic standards or universities that have to compromise these standards by meeting social engineering agendas of governments or interest groups?

The post isn’t a major piece of work but I think it’s one of the first times a National MP has said anything definitive on the record about this issue – Joyce has usually danced around the issue. With Tom Ryan of the TEU providing a guest post today on the same issue, I thought it was timely to highlight it.