ED » Greens

News 26/10 – Otago EFTS Down. R J Scott Medal. Fulbright Scholars.

Dave Guerin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:13:44 +0000

I hope you’re all keeping warm if the northern North Island gas leak has shut off your institution’s gas heating!

Otago EFTS Down Otago Uni’s EFTS will be down about 330 for 2011, but that’s mainly due to them limiting entrants after above plan growth in recent years.
R J Scott Medal AUT’s Prof Stephen Henry has won the Royal Society’s R J Scott Medal for his glyoscience work.
Quake Stuff Misko Cubrinovski of Canterbury told the Royal Commission about a geotechnical report on CBD soils (The Press). Visiting Canterbury Fellow Prof Richard Gough on how the arts can help the rebuild. A King’s Education student who survived because he went out to lunch. Canterbury demolition.
NZBS on Demand The CPIT NZ School of Broadcasting has a cool new site and they have a video of yesterday’s RWC parade in Christchurch (HT Kiwiblog).
Student Winemaker…Jonathan Musther of EIT sounds like he’s pretty good.
Student Filmmaker…Kyan Krumdieck’s film is off to the Cannes Film Festival. He’s a Victoria student who has been on exchange at Berkeley (and his mum does research for NASA at Canterbury).
Op-Ed AUT’s Prof Paul Moon responded in the NZ Herald to an earlier op-ed by Auckland’s Prof Anne Salmond on the NZ economy. Both pieces are opinion, rather than research pieces, and are somewhat outside their specialities, but it’s election period when everyone has a say on politics and economics.
TEC IT Get an insight into TEC’s IT group.
Smooth Segue Yesterday I noted that Te Whare Wananga o Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa had a bad NZQA report – then the Anglican PTE claimed that Catholic women should be made priests! Nice way to distract attention!
Fulbright Scholars 10 Fulbright Scholars have been announced – Otago Uni and the ODT celebrated the locals, including Andrew Geddis, who often appears in this roundup.
Rhodes Scholars Releases from Waikato and Canterbury, and the Dom Post on how one winner was a former Wellington schoolboy and the NBR on the same guy.
Politics The Greens’ Russel Norman visited Canterbury to check out their freshwater research. Victoria’s iPredict website is spawning a TV show. Labour might set up a defence college at Massey’s Hokowhitu campus (Palmie). Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards reckons the RWC win will help the government win the election – I think it will have bugger all difference. An unattributed National Party release about all sorts of education stuff (not worth reading).
Short Bits Massey: hosting a big Fonterra party. Waikato: oil spill analysis. Otago Uni: free breakfasts for students; Prof Doug Sellman on MMP. AUT: SPARC on the new AUT-based National Training Centre (NZ Herald). BOPP: international student in critical condition after car crash. Auckland: Jane Kelsey on Pharmac. Canterbury: Prof Philip Joseph off to Oxford conference; winds don’t cause damage; Eric Crampton on RWC economics. Unitec: 3 minute thesis competition. Lincoln: congrats to ABs.

News 29/9 – VSM Bill Passes. Mapua Toxicity. Cartoon Porn.

Dave Guerin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:37:21 +0000

VSM Bill Passes ACT’s Heather Roy celebrated her VSM Bill passing, providing freedom of association for students, as did Act on Campus and the Young Nationals (NewstalkZB, RNZ, NZ Herald, TV3). Speeches by Heather Roy and the Maori Party’s Rahui Katene are online. Keith Ng at Public Address had a great “pox on both of your houses” post about the issue. Labour’s Sue Moroney thinks that students should watch out. NZUSA started a campaign to fix the VSM law immediately after the Bill passed and Labour pledged to reverse it when they get into office.
VSM Bill Lead-up In the lead-up to the Bill passing, there were a few jousts in the media and at Parliament. The Greens’ Gareth Hughes said the Minister should keep his head down (EXMSS VP). NZUSA reckoned that National MP Michael Woodhouse had opposed VSM in a video at Otago Uni and should cross the floor (this may be one of the first times anyone has even written a media release about Michael Woodhouse). Labour’s Grant Robertson supported NZUSA, as did OUSA. The ODT quoted Woodhouse saying the video was edited and he had no intention to cross the floor (the story’s a good one). NZUSA also had a protest at Parliament where about 100 people seemed to attend, going by the photos, and various MPs spoke – Scoop has photos plus releases from NZUSA and the PPTA (Stuff, RNZ, ODT, TV3). NZUSA also listed various amendments voted down during the debate. A protest at Auckland only attracted 20 people and an effigy went unlit. MANA’s John Minto was repulsed by government abuse of students (ie the VSM Bill, not Steven Joyce’s secret dungeons). There’s also a review of Monday’s protests on the Workers Party site. David Farrar gave a detailed review of the VSM debate and previewed the third reading.
Unitec-MIT Collaborate I was sent a media release yesterday with the heading “Unitec and Manukau Institute of Technology strengthen their relationship to benefit Auckland” And the release was about as boring as the heading. They announced a collaboration but gave no details about how it will work and what it will do. Instead, most of the release was about projects done in the past, often with other wider groups. So, that’s probably why no mainstream media covered it.
Mapua Toxicity The report on the clean-up of the toxic site at Mapua has been released – it was done by Otago Uni’s David McBride and others.
Surveillance Bill Otago Uni’s Andrew Geddis on the proposed surveillance bill.
Design Exhibition Massey has their big design exhibition opening tonight (The Wellingtonian) and it looks like a cracker – I think they should invite bloggers J
Christchurch Trades SIT may not fill all its extra Christchurch trades places.
Aoraki An Aoraki Poly life skills student is trying to stir up support to keep her course going.
SAS Death Auckland’s Stephen Hoadley said the SAS seems to be doing more than the government lets on while Otago Uni’s Najibullah Lafraie is concerned about the nature of the raid.
Air Quality Canterbury’s Simon Kingham on a WHO air quality report on Auckland.
RWC Waikato’s Camilla Obel in some academic theorising about depression if NZ loses the RWC. TWOA seeking rugby records.
Cartoon Porn A Canterbury student was in court for importing cartoon porn (Christchurch Court News).
Short Bits Victoria: PhD student Mark Hunter won a German nuclear magnetic resonance award; Justin Hodgkiss on solar cells (Idealog). Otago Poly: thousand island dressing. Massey: Sam Shepherd on outsider art; David Tripe on Asian banks; checking out a dead turtle. Otago Uni: election enrolment; retail tobacco displays (TV3). Canterbury: building demolition; new book by Eric Beardsley. CPIT: architects’ presentation.

News 15/9 – Students Protest! UC Grades Up. Tramper Saved.

Dave Guerin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:10:58 +0000

Students Protest! The students at Victoria had a noisy protest yesterday, although seemingly helped along a bit by Workers Party types. Seems about 300 turned up to hear speeches and get some free food before 50-100 went up to the Hunter Building to deliver a letter to VC Pat Walsh (not a thank you letter). Security stopped them getting up to Pat’s floor and then security pushed the protestors a bit (camera angles stop you from seeing whether the protesters pushed back, although security were also taking video so that might come out later), while the protestors used megaphones in the security staff’s faces. After a bit of loud chanting and pushing, the Police turned up and asked the students to leave, which they did. Student newspaper Salient did a good job of covering it on Twitter and you can get videos here and here from The Workers Party. It also got coverage from the Dom Post. There was an Auckland protest too, where 20 students barricaded themselves in the library, with video coverage from TV3 (and a story), and One News. At Waikato Uni, fee increases passed without a complaint.
UC Grades Up Student grades are up from last year, even with the quake (APNZ). Sean Scully, however, helped out others too much and dropped out – he’s OK though and check out his dog.
RWC My friend, Victoria’s Dean Knight tore his eyes away from the rugby to comment on the propriety of Murray McCully’s actions (Dean’s blog, NZ City). Massey’s robotic kicking leg.
Education at a Glance The OECD released Education at a Glance on Wed night our time. RNZ has done a piece but I wonder what the demand is for more work by ED Blog – let me know. My concern is that it’s too easy to just cherry-pick numbers from it, which only reinforces a preconceived belief.
Tramper Saved A CPIT outdoor recreation student was saved by helicopter from near the Lewis Pass yesterday – she developed hypothermia on a trip with a CPIT tutor and 5 other students, who continued after her rescue.
VSM A story on Massey’s likely response to VSM and the Greens’ Gareth Hughes’ on Steven Joyce’s impact on VSM.
Whale Strike Auckland’s Rochelle Constantine comments on the death of a Bryde’s Whales in the Hauraki Gulf, which was probably hit by a ship (RNZ, NZ Newswire has comments too). Massey’s Stuart Hunter and Rob Chappell did a necropsy and found it had huge injuries on one side (NZ Herald).
Low EFTS? Looks like Victoria is short of EFTS, the way they’re promoting their summer courses.
Youth Guarantee UCOL gives out Youth Guarantee places within a scholarship frame – nice way to heighten the stakes for students.
Global Media Dominance AUT’s Merja Myllylahti reckons that NZ media is a plaything of global finance (TV3). Never mind, ED Blog won’t sell out unless the price is right.
Business Link WaikatoLink and MEA Mobile have formed a commercial relationship over mobile apps.
Bligh Auckland’s Prof Anne Salmond is launching a new biography on William Bligh.
Short Bits Unitec: Rick Ede on the education mission to India. Victoria: Jim Veitch on terrorism; Sir Paul Callaghan speech. Canterbury: hospital research cited; Jarg Pettinga helps with quake queries. EIT: hosting wine awards; trades academy. Otago Poly: hot chocolate drinks. Massey: Stuart Shepherd speaking in Nelson on art; disaster management lectures; Pauline Conayne on penguins. Otago Uni: discussion on alcohol use and spare time; student raising money to honour his deceased brother in law’s charity. Media Design School: LA awards. New career choice tool. Auckland: entrepreneurs’ challenge down to last 6. Waikato: Oracle installation; Prof Roger Moltzen is new Dean of Education;
pufferfish game for asthma kids. Nifty intern scheme announced by Wayne Mapp.

News 15/8 – RIP Sir Paul Reeves. Ivy College. UE Changes.

Dave Guerin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:25:03 +0000

Snow Closures Lincoln is closed today due to snow (see picture), as is Canterbury and CPIT.
RIP Sir Paul Reeves AUT Chancellor Sir Paul Reeves died of cancer on Sunday morning (Greens, Anglican Church, NZPA, TV3, TV3, Fairfax, NZ Herald, TVNZ, QPEC, Labour’s Stuart Nash comments on working at AUT with Sir Paul)
Welfare Reform Welfare changes announced by John Key yesterday will impact on the secondary-tertiary interface (speech, NZH, NZH, Greens, Labour)
Short Masters An unlikely story made TV news on Friday: that a one year Masters degree should be explored to compete with Australia in the international market.
Ivy College…has shut down, after bad publicity a month back. I wrote about them in July and suggested that NZQA’s restriction on new enrolments might hasten their demise.
Fishing Problems Media release on Auckland academics’ research on fishing boat working conditions.
Glad to Pay Taxes Massey’s Deborah Russell is glad to pay taxes and has written an op-ed on the welfare system.
ENZ Awards One of Education NZ’s awards went to Victoria Uni for its Student Support Life Cycle.
International Numbers Consultant Tim Rogers thinks that much more co-operation between sectors (especially universities and PTEs) is needed to double earnings from international education.
Sea Lions Sea lions are apparently being badly affected by squid fishing down in the Auckland Islands, according to Otago’s Bruce Robertson (and the evidence looks strong).
UE Changes Labour’s Kelvin Davis also doesn’t like the new UE requirements and their likely impact on Maori. Manawatu principals think UE will now be tougher but aren’t too worried – it was the same with BOP principals.
Book Awards Victoria student Gemma Bowker-Wright has won the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award. NorthTec tutor Diana Menefy won the LIANZA Children’s Book Award.
Youth Training Labour is chasing National over the relatively small size of Youth Guarantee compared to the large size of youth unemployment.
VSM NZUSA organised a protest outside the National Party’s conference – looked like 20-30 people (TV3, NewstalkZB).
Ghosts? Massey Wellington’s old Museum site and Victoria’s Weir House hostel have made Wellington’s top 10 ghostly sites.
Adidas Auckland’s Denise Conroy and Mike Lee, and Otago Uni’s Phil Osborne all weigh in on adidas’ jersey cock-up.
Getting Fat Otago, Massey, Auckland and AUT academics have signed on to an open letter warning about our high diabetes rates and listing nine interventions that should be taken (NZ Herald, Dom Post, NewstalkZB, RNZ).
Community Ed The NZ Herald had a good story on community cooking classes around Auckland (no, they haven’t all closed…).
Rugby A Massey grad is heading up the IRB’s Rugby World Cup effort, so Massey has done an interview with him. Massey’s Malcolm Mulholland is also in the thick of it from the rugby history angle. Meanwhile, Waiariki was celebrating its sponsorship of the BOP team, which has just marked its centenary.
Nice Recovery An Otago Uni student has recovered well from a spinal injury.
Orgasms Qantas has run a doco on female orgasms in its in-flight entertainment and the NZ Herald got a comment on it from Victoria’s Kevin Dew. But his specialism seems to be “Sociology of health and illness; health-care interactions, public health.” Another odd media choice of commentator.
PTE Profile Nelson site Wild Tomato has done a nice profile of the PTE Whenua Iti Outdoors (and also an award for an NMIT building).
Jury Trials Canterbury’s Chris Gallavin and Otago Uni’s Pro Mark Henaghen on changes to jury trials.
Quake Stuff Christchurch students are worried about their marks and whether they’ll be seen as valid, give the use of aegrotat marking etc. Preferential entry at Canterbury is going well – I wish them luck with their recruiting but some big redundancies look like they’re looming down that way (RNZ). A Christchurch hospital building has won an engineering award and a Canterbury engineer contributed.
Short Bits Canterbury: lovely lino artwork by Simon Ogden.
Otago Uni: Ewan Fordyce on whether plesiosaurs had live births; researchers’ morality questioned by right to life group; student rowing across the Tasman (ODT); proposed closer ties with Dunedin hospital are welcomed (bit more detail here); Prof Paul Tapsell on marae; Labour’s David Parker speaking on campus; Massey: student wants to photo Wellington GLBT people; cockatoo is recovering; ecentre anniversary; dispute resolution partnership; Jacqueline Rowarth on milk prices; Grant Duncan on election prospects; grads aiming to win a fashion comp (and an AUT student). PTE AMS Group offering driver training at schools. Auckland: a columnist comments on Rhema Vaithianathan’s bad bosses rationale; celebrating a Russian composer’s music; Jonathan Albright on social media and rioting. Otago Poly: international fees up 4% in 2012, but English language fees will stay static. AUT: Arno Sturny on cooking chocolate; Tagaloatele Peggy Fairburn-Dunlop on policing in Tonga. Waiariki: computer games to help learning; hosting a robotics competition; Narissa Bayer on social media. Lincoln: possum poison approved. Media Design School: students win award. UCOL: helping at a whitebait competition; great photos by students win awards (media release). Victoria: celebrating a German poet; Prof Peter Thirkell on retailer discounting. BOPP: a reef may not have helped surfing, but has helped fishing; student hairdressers’ awards. Wintec: grad coming back to speak at Spark festival. Unitec: public broadcasting forum. Waikato: has bought a Weba kayak ergometer (go on, have a look). Student loan bill changes. Whitireia: a recent grad is the missing kayaker in Wellington. The NZ Uni basketball team was beaten by a Russian team that was much the same as the one that the Tall Blacks beat a few days ago. HSI is involved in a new productivity tool for small businesses.

News 20/7 – New Secretary of Education. Maori Healing. Massey Chip-In.

Dave Guerin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:29:16 +0000

New Secretary of Education Lesley Longstone is the new Secretary of Education and will replace Karen Sewell in November (Dom Post, RNZ, NZEI, PSA). Longstone is currently the Director General for Infrastructure and Funding at the English Department for Education (she’s been at the Dept and its predecessors for 10 years). The SSC media release says she “has 25 years’ experience in the education and employment sectors in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, and she understands the economic importance of education and its contribution to the broader skills agenda”. Last year she was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. If you’re really bored, you can even check out her Jan-Mar 2011 corporate expenses, which are frugal. And here’s a video of her speaking on Free Schools, which seem to be charter schools.
Maori Healing Maori healing will be included in South Pacific College of Natural Therapies’ Bachelor of Natural Healing.
Caged President More coverage on the OUSA president in a cage, with NZUSA president David Do on TV3′s Firstline and RadioLIVE, another TV3 piece and another and on TelstraClear (who knew they had news?). And he’s accused of a beat-up over his claims of an ACT member assaulting him.
Massey Chip-In Last Friday Massey staff chipped in to buy morning tea for Lincoln and Canterbury Uni staff – that’s nice.
Education 4 Jobs The NZ Institute’s latest report has a strong focus on preparing for jobs (RNZ), but ACT’s Don Brash has chided the authors for not highlighting the minimum wage as a barrier to youth employment. The Greens’ Metiria Turei liked the report.
Toque D’Or Lots of winners at the Toque D’Or competition, with WelTec being the overall winner.
Medical Check Otago Uni’s Susan Dovey is leading a team to review 300,000 GP records to identify mistakes and help to explain them.
Mother Nature That’s the topic of a column by Canterbury’s Katie Pickles.
$27m for Otago…from the Health Research Council.
Gallagher Waikato is renaming its performance venue the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts for ten years, after a $2.5m donation. It is largely a donation of course, as the naming rights are probably worth a tenth of that.
Safe Building A new Victoria building may get an engineering award for its earthquake damping technology.
Short Bits WITT: a top local butcher who gives demos at WITT. Massey: rescued birds are still battling to get back in the wild; Claire Robinson on Labour’s talkback habits; Craig Prichard is editing the journal Organization; Facebook followers are up to 5,000. Waikato: a student died in a car crash last week; Tom Roa honouring a te reo Maori pioneer. The IPLS, a law education provider, is sponsoring a law students’ conference. BOPP: learning crafts. Wintec has merged two schools. NorthTec student exhibition in Kerikeri. AUT grads are setting up a fashion collective. Otago Poly: Daniel Pfyl cooking boeuf bourguignonne.

News 16/6 – Vic Vs Greens. Modular Hall. Frog Saviour?

Dave Guerin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:50:06 +0000

Vic vs Greens The Greens have “attacked” Victoria Uni after the Uni asked the political party not to come up to campus during the exam period. While it might make for a big headline, it seems to me to be a mix of an officious letter and 2 hyperactive politicians (Hughes and Kedgley). Who cares?
Quake Stuff Lincoln’s up and running. Otago Uni’s temporary space is back open. Canterbury’s Mark Quigley on quakes. The SVA is short of student volunteers during exams but skifield staff helped.
Modular Hall Auckland’s latest student hall is almost finished after being built in a modular fashion. The hall has 468 rooms and they got up to a final speed of 7 installed a day. This one will get an award of some sort.
Fieldays Waikato’s Stuart Locke on the Uni’s survey of purchases at the show (TV3, TVNZ, Stuff, RNZ) – since everyone wants to know how many utes have been sold, it’s a good exercise to do if you want to get media coverage – although Waikato has lots of coverage already, even if only 1/3 of their releases run. Waikato has covered their activities, soil testing (with video), and wood chopping/sawing. Victoria’s showing off a wool product.
Refugees A refugee group wants tertiary students from refugee backgrounds to be a priority group in tertiary education.
Pregnancy Auckland Uni PhD student Tomasina Stacey has found that sleeping position (on the left) on the last night of pregnancy could reduce the likelihood of stillbirths (NZPA, RNZ). It’s a big (and headline-creating) announcement and curiously the Uni quoted two professors before referring to the researcher – I guess they were trying to signal the significance of it and show support for the researcher. Otago Uni’s Barry Taylor urges caution.
Frog Saviour? Otago Uni’s Phil Bishop has a global role in the fight to save frogs – he’s now the Chief Scientist for the Amphibian Survival Alliance (NZPA). Is it just me, or does this all sound a bit sci-fi?
Qual Review ATTTO is making progress with providers on a quals review in tourism.
Sports Two NMIT students have been asked to take part in the World University Games in NZ’s basketball team.
Fair Go An Auckland Uni law student was on Fair Go last night and he wasn’t the good guy in the story.
Export Education Export education stories from Indian Newslink on passion in marketing, lower ENZ focus for India, PM’s visit to India and work visa changes.
Where’s My Car? An AUT student had her car stolen, while she was volunteering as a St John ambulance driver.
Fruit 4 Smokes Waiariki student smokers are being given fruit to help them give up.
Youth Jobs People Potential, a Northland PTE, gets coverage for its work with young people.
Short Bits Victoria: Kelvin Dew on whether TV is bad for you; a student was briefly in NZ’s Next Top Model; a tuatara in intensive care. Massey: naked vet students; business idea competition; a student helping with an after-school programme; Lincoln’s Keith Woodford on the farm outlook (RNZ). Profile of SIT music production tutor “Bassy” Bob Brockman. Otago Uni: Technology Innovation Challenge for school students; student stuck at the airport; Waikato: Carolyn Michelle on Lady Gaga. Auckland: student promoting peace.

News 23/5 – Budget Thoughts. Chimp Talk. Institute Criticised.

Dave Guerin — Sun, 22 May 2011 19:31:11 +0000

Budget An Otago Uni student quite liked the Budget, while the ODT had a roundup of comment, including support from Queenstown Resort College and Otago Uni’s medical faculty. UCOL on over 55s (and Otago Poly SA and EXMSS). Vic’s James Graham on education expenditure. Vic’s Prof Sir Paul Callaghan spoke on the lack of vision in the budget and focused on a 2% cut in funding in Vote Science and Innovation (also RadioLIVE and Stuff) – I’ve looked at that and a fair bit of the cut seems to be savings from the MORST/FRST merger (and the creation of a fairly secure fund for CRIs, like Unis have with PBRF). Anyway, Callaghan was right that there wasn’t a big boost on science and innovation, which had seemed likely from the general emphasis on the area (the busy man is also convening a thinktank next year).
Baby Ethics Prof Gareth Jones, an Otago Uni bioethicist, comments on the prohibition of selling human eggs in NZ (and the Kiwis who go offshore in response).
Family Court Otago Uni’s Prof Mark Henaghen has led a study on Family Court costs – it’s an interesting follow-up to earlier work on civil cases more broadly. In both cases, costs seem far too high – of course the costs in this report are based on those who went to court, rather than the sample of all parents who split (Kerre Woodham commented on it).
David Skegg… (Otago VC) received an honorary doctorate and gave a speech at the latest graduation, as his departure in July gets closer.
Lovely Art Auckland’s Michael Parekowhai is showing at the Venice Bienniale and there are some lovely shots of his work in the story.
Chimp Talk Dame Jane Goodall, famed chimp researcher, will be speaking at Otago Uni in a month.
Institute Criticised The Greens’ Keith Locke is criticising the cost of the Institute of Strategic Leadership and the provenance of the director’s PhD – Treasury and Defence have used it.
Post-Quake Christchurch Canterbury’s Bronwyn Hayward on coping with change and Katie Pickles finding meaning in the Anglican cathedral spire. MIT’s Zara Potts on shifting to Christchurch pre-quake and then back to Auckland afterwards. A would-be CPIT student is struggling with next steps. Canterbury Uni hosted a youth vision workshop.
Wheel Clamping TV1 and TV3 consumer shows are duelling and Canterbury’s Cynthia Hawes comments on the issue in question: wheel clamping.
Foreign Policy School…at Otago Uni will this year focus on Science Diplomacy.
Music Wintec grad Dave Baxter has had his band Avalanche City signed by a US label – here’s their popular single Love Love Love.
Child Research Canterbury is building a database of children to participate in research projects – sounds a bit dodgy but seems like a good idea.
Student Death An Otago Poly student was killed near Ravensbourne (just a minute or two’s drive from the Poly) last Thursday night in a car crash.
Short Bits Victoria: Prof Peter Thirkell on a possible new Telecom mobile brand; Prof Richard Hill on a racist NZ murderer from the early 1900s; Grant Morris on a new Treaty ruling; a PhD student won baby boomers’ employment has found support; a US training ship team will play Vic at rugby. A Waiariki student is a rally driver. Otago Uni: first master in acupuncture grad and first doctor of education grad; Disney recruitment; a student is in the NZ surfing team; Waikato: Labour’s Annette King cited Prof Natalie Jackson in her policy speech on children; in news you wouldn’t want, a murderer on the Gold Coast was an ex-Waikato student. Auckland: stroke recovery clinic; heart attack prevention; censuring doctors; is promoting some science rankings; a dance student on seeking part-time work. Beauty is spreading from Masterton around the UCOL campuses, while Whanganui has a fashion exhibition. Massey: Prof Tony Parsons is the new Chair in Grassland Science; Euan Robertson on ad complaints. SIT won a dispute over non-payment of accommodation fees. A WITT student is off to the junior rugby world cup. REANNZ has linked with Pacific Fibre to secure new bandwidth for KAREN. TEU-Auckland dispute. Careers fair in Dunedin. AUT’s David Robie on Fiji.
Media Mentions A dancer cites Open Poly study as a not very convincing post-dance backstop.

News 18/5 – Dodgy ITOs? Loans and Human Rights. Quals Fraud?

Dave Guerin — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:14:28 +0000

Dodgy ITOs? The Minister and TEC put out a release yesterday about recovery of $4.3m from 18/38 ITOs over 2009 enrolments that were not backed by the records (Stuff). Personally, I suspect they were more disorganised and slack than dodgy (and the fact that almost half did it suggests a systemic weakness), but the Minister wasn’t very happy about the ITOs or TEC. One News reported that 8 ITOs claimed funding for dead people (includes interview with the ITF’s Jeremy Baker), although NewstalkZB noted Joyce’s statement that there were 11 dead people in the funding claims overall. NZPA reported the details and a commenter claimed that 1 ITO made up 50% of the total funds being claimed back. The Dom Post’s Amanda Fisher interviewed BCITO’s Ruma Karaitiana, who promptly said that they didn’t have to pay back that much ($64K) and took a swipe at those who had bigger mistakes. That story also included the Minister saying that TEC would refer any intentional false claims to the Police (TEC said there didn’t seem to be any such situations) and that (as a last resort) he would cancel an ITO’s recognition. Those threats of loss of recognition, along with financial stress, will encourage more mergers.
Student Loans and Human Rights The Greens’ Gareth Hughes and NZUSA’s David Do (with Grey Power) are making the argument that restricting loan access for over 55s is a bad idea. Hughes took the line that the change would probably breach human rights law (3 News). Rotorua’s Daily Post talked to an older student and the student president at Waiariki about the issue. ACT’s Don Brash liked the age restriction (and wanted more changes), but AUT’s Derek McCormack disagreed. Stuff reported concerns by the Human Rights Commission, but Steven Joyce said he was comfortable that the changes could be done legally (RNZ and NZ Herald on same angle and NZPA with some extra quotes).
Quals Fraud? Campbell Live ran a one-sided story on Monday night about an early childhood teacher who allegedly has a false qualification from NZ Tertiary College, a large PTE offering ECE quals. One argument seems to be over whether the teacher finished her last course, but the main issue is that the certificate that the teacher has is argued to be false by NZTC and even has a different title. NZTC declined to be interviewed by Campbell Live so only one side of the story came up, but yesterday NZTC released a statement with more details. The story looks messy but the fact that the certificate has the wrong qual name (it is shown on screen in the TV story) seems pretty important to me. (Disclosure: I did a little bit of work for NZTC last year.)
Arts A Massey student is exhibiting in Marlborough, while UCOL students are running an exhibition in Whanganui and getting ready for the 48 Hour Film Festival in Palmie. Unitec are hosting Chinese staff and students from the Shanghai Theatre Academy for the 48 Hour Film Competition, with 18 students splitting into 3 teams – that’s a pretty cool trip.
Chef Training Some chefs thinks that young chefs don’t have all the skills and some blame tertiary education providers for the problems – but there’s a lot more to the article and it’s quite interesting.
Visa Bets iPredict is launching stocks on whether visitor visa requirements will be relaxed for India and China – maybe they’ll add student visas in later and we can take a punt!
Temporary Buildings …are going up at Canterbury Uni.
TCM Labour MP Raymond Huo riffs off a NZ College of Chinese Medicine graduation to ask whether Traditional Chinese Medicine should be regulated in NZ.
Pike River Auckland’s Bill Hodge comments on the news that Pike River Coal ex-managers have hired lawyers – RNZ reported this breathlessly as though it was odd, but if I was part of a company that lost 29 workers, I’d seek some good legal advice too!
New Doctors The Taranaki Daily News has a long profile of junior doctors and touches on their transition from student to doctor.
Fiji Auckland’s Steven Ratuva seemed to offer some pretty good analysis of the Fijian political situation on TV3, while Bill Hodge talked about extradition issues on RNZ and TV3.
Short Bits AUT’s Roy Davies comments on 3D rugby broadcasts. Massey: rainwater harvesting with Stan Abbott; Sire Mason Durie’s new book; student Adam Reeves won the cross-country motorbike national title; Prof Stuart Carr won an international award. Auckland: more on bogan research (Waikato Times, TV3); a student who helped leprosy sufferers in Nepal. Victoria: academic Yvonne van Roy pleaded not guilty to a charge of careless use of a motor vehicle causing death; Kenneth Young judged a competition to develop a musical theme for the Blues rugby team; Kathryn McGrath is the new director of the MacDiarmid Institute. Aoraki Poly is providing extra trades training. An EIT student won a stock car title. Otago: Lance Jennings on avoiding flu; three siblings who balance study and international canoeing/kayaking; the Maori Party’s Rahui Katene spoke at a conference. Waiariki hosted a conference on breastfeeding and students and staff did well at a forestry conference. CPIT is hosting a US architect. WITT chefs are cooking with chilli. Competenz is working well with this firm. NZPA has picked up on the big cookbook win, talking with co-author Tracy Berno of Lincoln (media release). UCOL has a new beauty teaching facility.

News 17/5 – King’s Education. Relocating Canterbury Uni. Bogans.

Dave Guerin — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:12:58 +0000

King’s Education The inquest into the deaths of nine earthquake victims who could not be identified after the quake started yesterday (and concluded that they were all dead), including up to 7 from King’s Education in the CTV Building. There were some horrible snippets of information about those victims, such as wedding rings or keys found, and last phone calls and texts (answered and unanswered). Other stories are from The Press (story on the late Rhea Mae Sumalpong and her mother), RNZ, NewstalkZB, NZPA (names all 6 King’s people), AAP, One News and TV3.
Loans, Again Mike Hosking had an editorial on NewstalkZB about student loans – he thinks we waste too much money on them. For a related, but opposing opinion, EXMSS’ Dave Crampton blogs about how the government is not spending enough money on loans. On a less related note, the Green’s Metiria Turei wants the Training Incentive Allowance reinstated and extended.
Relocating Canterbury Uni Turns out that Rod Carr did an op-ed yesterday on relocating Canterbury Uni to the CBD (or not, which is his view). Anyway, I think he really does want to create a Canterbury Uni medical school – good luck with that, but there’s probably no better time than post-quake. Anyway, the op-ed did spark Sci-Blogs’ Michael Edmonds to complement the parking at Canterbury (and Lincoln and Massey) and mildly rail against CBD campuses. In related news, the Uni gave an update to bondholders on quake impacts and has opened two floors of its main library, with the rest to follow by month’s end.
Bogans Auckland Uni’s Prof Miriam Meyerhoff asked her first year students to ask people what they thought the word bogan meant. It sounds like a good way to get students engaged in research and make linguistics more real. If you’re stuck in an ivory tower, read the comments on the story to get a sense of the “real world”.
Exam Business Lower Hutt company Aspeq specialises in running exams and it’s doing pretty well – pilots, financial advisers and taxi drivers all take exams with them and they’re expanding offshore.
Expats Victoria’s Paul Callister was on RadioLIVE to discuss expat remittances (I couldn’t get the audio to work), while Waikato’s John Gibson says we should activate expats as a national resource.
Gangs Canterbury’s Jarrod Gilbert with an interesting analysis of gang trends in Invercargill.
Chicken Germs Otago Uni’s Michael Baker reckons that changes to chicken handling have halved campylobacter infections in NZ (Hawkes Bay Today).
Road Skills Waikato’s Robert Isler has developed a software package to teach road skills to young people.
Careerforce CE Ray Lind is the new CE of Careerforce – he was the Deputy Chair – and starts next week.
Stuart Middleton…blogs on school-university pathways.
Business Links Otago Poly is running a 6-week cookery course for school leavers in conjunction with Crowne Plaza Queenstown and a local youth trust.
RWC The 1987 World-Cup winning All Blacks will come together during this RWC to raise money for an Auckland Uni scholarship in honour of John Drake, their late colleague (media release).
Short Bits Victoria: Paul Morris in a rather small cameo in a story on Catholic schools and parishes; Aliitasi Su’a-Tavila on the benefits of traditional Pacific diets; a new Chair in Public Finance; Rod Alley on the Fijian colonel who ran away; Dai Henwood on his university roots. Waikato’s Adam Daniel getting rid of koi carp. Lincoln and Canterbury academics on National’s water policy. Otago Uni: a recent zoology PhD grad on conservation by farmers; Rural Women NZ has funded some breast cancer research. New exhibitions at Canterbury. Retired cricketer Shane Bond is studying at Lincoln and Massey – which one can get out a media release first?
Media Mentions The NZ Herald’s Brian Rudman cited Canterbury building research approvingly.

News 12/5 – Key’s Speech. Scientists Fight. Zealandia.

Dave Guerin — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:34:06 +0000

John Key’s Speech…yesterday didn’t say much at all about student loans that Steven Joyce hadn’t already said more about (NZPA reviews that). All Key said was that they were looking to offshore loan debtors to meet their obligations and that other savings besides putting interest on would be explored. Putting aside that, Victoria’s Geoff Rashbrooke commented on the KiwiSaver changes.
Funding Caps NZUSA and the Greens both put out releases about the need to ease funding caps yesterday, and working in EXMSS’ op-ed earlier in the week.
Budget Thoughts The ODT has written an editorial supporting more resourcing for university funding. It’s number 927 in the series since the 1800s… J . Seriously though, they focus on mainly on academic salaries and other workforce issues.
Scientists Fight…reasonably but strongly. Canterbury researchers have hit back at AgResearch claims debunking the original Canterbury review of AgResearch research. If I understood it all, I’d probably write more, but it’s nice to see a strong public debate on science that involves the scientists talking about the science (the Soil and Health Assn is also in on it).
Media Training Whitireia is launching its NZ Media Training Centre later this morning, and they invited me so I’ll check it out. Steven Joyce is doing the launching honours.
Zealandia Victoria is formalising its partnership with Zealandia, the wildlife sanctuary in Karori, Wellington. I went with my mum, wife and son there on Mother’s Day and it was great – we saw a baby tuatara, kaka, tui (of course), whio (blue ducks) and two takahe. I didn’t know the takahe had arrived (they arrived in January) and thought they were very fat pukeko from a distance. They’re very tame and we got within 2 metres of them – first time I had ever seen one.
Aoraki Saga When a local paper gets too interested in an organisation, as the Timaru Herald did in Aoraki’s outdoor ed saga, you get all sorts of stories, including this one about parents upset about term breaks not meshing with school breaks. I wonder how many tertiary providers did adjust their term breaks to fit the RWC-affected school term breaks. Any thoughts?
Hone Heke AUT’s Paul Moon weighs in on the debate about Hone Heke’s bones.
Waikato in BOP Waikato Uni had a stakeholder event in Tauranga to release their annual report and talk about upcoming things – I think they do these events really well and it’s a great formal way to connect with people. Anyway, 2011 Tauranga enrolments are up 15% on last year.
Osama Victoria’s Matthew Gerrie comments on how memory differences could have affected the changing stories after the raid on Osama.
RNZ $$ AUT’s Alan Cocker had an op-ed in the Herald about, basically, the need to fund RNZ.
Cloud Computing Otago’s Jeffrey Matsuura, a visiting scholar, on regulatory compliance for cloud computing – an interesting issue these days.
Graduation I don’t usually cover graduation stories, as they’re mainly just institutional advertising (you know the drill – institutional name plus inspirational student case study and/or high profile honorary doctorate awardee), but the Manawatu Standard has a lovely profile of Kathleen Vossler, who runs the ceremonies, that explains her commitment to her role.
Helicopter Ride You can win a helicopter ride if you listen to Massey’s Jacqueline Rowarth in Taihape – funny that, because she’s a great speaker and shouldn’t need a helicopter ride as incentive!
Queenstown Links Otago Uni is going to offer its Master of Entrepreneurship in Queenstown, working out of Queenstown Resort College’s space. I wonder if a NZ university has offered a course from a PTE’s premises before (as opposed to an articulation agreement). In the end, it’s not a big deal, but it’s good to see maturing relationships between subsectors.
Vitamin D Waikato researchers have found that Vitamin D deficiencies may influence respiratory illness survival (NZPA).
Short Bits Unitec students are putting on Chekhov’s Three Sisters while lecturer Rau Hoskins has a Maori architecture TV show. OUSA’s Prez Harriet Geoghegan has explained her decision to resign. Wintec is celebrating their student who gained an Education NZ award. Climate change expert James Hansen at Victoria. Waiariki has been having a weight loss competition and there is a winner. NMIT students are organising an exhibition. A Waikato Uni student is getting ready for an ironman. Two AUT grads are doing well in advertising. Unitec’s Keith Rankin on how to balance earthquake projects and other projects around the country. Massey’s Mike Joy was on NewstalkZB to talk about whether NZ is 100% Pure (more on that issue from Marketing Magazine). Massey’s Paul Spoonley on skinheads (and again) and Prof Manying Ip on the Chinese community’s reaction to them. Lincoln’s dairy farm is shifting to precision dairying and it has also been hit by the clover root weevil. The SVA’s Sam Johnson on RadioLIVE. More on Otago Uni’s oceanographic ranking. UCOL panel beating and automotive students combined to compete in a demolition derby. A CPIT student pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death. Sign Language week went well according to Victoria’s Mark Berry. Lincoln’s Suzanne Vallance on earthquake recovery, while Canterbury research on faults is to be released in a month. TV3 has done a report on the two Massey academics’ new NZ dialect for a film. Otago’s Brendan Gray on the rebranding of Shell to Z Energy. The ODT has a story on visiting offshore agents. Photos of the Selwyn College battle from Dunedin.
Media Mention GE Free NZ has cited Auckland Uni research by Peter Gluckman and others to warn parents off baby food with GE ingredients. Manawatu SPCA has won an award and they mention their links with UCOL.