1. A View on Everything This opinion piece covers almost every issue in current tertiary education in short bites. Since it is probably just written to provoke, I think I will refrain from comment.
2. WITT Rockets WITT’s enrolments are up by 50% on last year, down to PEI’s demise, WITT’s own marketing and the general environment. Congrats to them. WITT has also treated PEI staff as internal for the purpose of new WITT jobs, boosting their employment chances – nice touch.
3. WEA Trouble A WEA is in trouble in Lower Hutt.
4. TEC CFO I saw the TEC is advertising its CFO position shortly after winning an ERA case – many of you were interested in that case, so here’s the judgment (you can download the full PDF there).
5. Rod to Stay As I suggested yesterday, Rod Carr is staying at Canterbury and not applying for the Reserve Bank job.
6. Extras: NBR covers Jacqueline Rowarth’s move to Waikato; Otago Uni’s neurosurgery campaign.

Research & Innovation

1. Innovation Database KiwiNet has launched an innovation database (Unlimited, Idealog) to showcase technologies on offer for commercialisation etc.
2. Tracking Albatross Otago Uni research tracking albatross made TV3 news.
3. Volcanic Lakes Waikato composers David Griffiths and Michael Williams will be at a Volcanic Lakes Festival in Italy this month directing their compositions.
4. Siouxsie Wiles’ …research on bioluminescence at Auckland is the focus of this piece in The Listener.
5. Exercise and Brains Otago Uni researchers are looking into how exercise affects brain function.
6. Extras: Auckland’s Keith Petrie et all has been looking at patients’ thoughts about illness; molecular mechano is the focus of an academic visiting Otago Uni; Massey franchising research; Victoria’s Aidan Tabor looking at emigrant couples’ experiences.

Public Issues

1. ICT in Schools Waikato’s Noeline Wright was on TV to discuss the use of digital equipment in schools.
2. Extras: WITT’s John Hudson cooks with sprouts and peas; Auckland’s Elsie Ho on Asian immigration to Auckland; Waikato’s Prof Natalie Jackson on a rural lack of young women; AUT’s Rawiri Taonui on the SOE Treaty issue.

Students

1. Celebrating Grads Competenz is celebrating its grads by creating an honour roll publication listing grads and their employers, plus producing an alumni magazine – is this a first amongst ITOs?
2. Legal Win Open Poly students won 5/7 Legal Exec exam prizes.
3. Nurse Star Profile of Unitec ad star and nursing student.
4. Bad Start A new SIT student had her parents helping her get to town and their caravan flipped.
5. Extras: Auckland student may be off to Amazon; Victoria rugby player; Miss India NZ from Victoria; profile of new Unitec dance student; a Victoria student at Occupy Wellington.

Stakeholders

1. Charming Worms Lincoln is running an ecology nature picnic for the whole family.
2. Extras: UCOL grad in top restaurant; Unison-EIT partnership; Waikato supporting Fieldays innovation competition; fire eater at CPIT; training needs in caring for the elderly.

Teaching & Learning

1. Teach First Teach First continues to stir controversy with the NZ Herald running an op-ed by an opponent and Auckland Now running a story.
2. Extras: 30 years of nursing at WITT.

1. Diving Deaths There will be no charges for a training provider, subcontracted to Adventure Education, that had two students die as there was no health and safety law breach (RNZ).
2. WelTec Precinct WelTec is moving another step towards gaining its Petone education precinct – the proposal will go out for consultation.
3. Otago Enrolments The ODT has an update on Otago Uni/Poly enrolment trends.
4. Extras: mention of Victoria’s campus hub; Massey’s Prof Jacqueline Rowarth off to Waikato; recognition of Open Poly ad; progress for Otago Uni neurological fundraising; Massey’s Major Josh Wineera to study national security in US.

Research & Innovation

1. Seals Massey’s Laureline Meynier is researching seals.
2. Extras: Auckland masters student doing eye research; Victoria’s Rodriguez Ramirez on the role of surprise in design.

Public Issues

1. Treaty AUT’s Paul Mon had an op-ed on Waitangi Tribunal reports, which must kick of Treaty-comment season leading up to Waitangi Day.
2. Dairying Massey’s Mike Joy is the focus of this piece on dairying’s dirtiness. It’s worth a read.
3. Extras: Massey’s David Tripe on bank job cuts and mortgagee sales; Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards thinks the Occupy protests have jumped the shark (NewstalkZB).

Students

1. Country Music Otago Uni’s Jayne Evans won a Blenheim country music competition.
2. Mr March A BOPP student is Mr March in a Men at Work calendar.
3. Extras: searchers for Otago Poly student thanked; Otago Uni netballer; dodgy behaviour in Otago Uni library.

Stakeholders

1. Extras: Whitireia working with local league club; EIT’s Suzette Major on expanding the local art gallery; Massey’s Prof Setaleki Finau on helping Tonga; Massey’s Dorian Scott on Electronics-Auckland.

Teaching & Learning

1. Mentoring Waiariki is launching a new mentoring diploma.
2. Extras: Harvard professor to guest lecture at AUT; Teach First made TVNZ’s Breakfast; Massey entrepreneurship programme; restaurant modern apprentices; lecture by Otago Uni’s Catherine Fowler; UCOL Wairarapa open day.

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. Youth Unemployment The Reject Youth Unemployment coalition wants to meet Paula Bennett to discuss youth unemployment issues – given it is a leftwing coalition that launched a few weeks out from the election, complained about “the last three years” and is now inviting Bennett to meet via media release, I suspect they may not be that successful in their meeting goal.
2. $500K Waikato has gained a $500,000 bequest from Zena Daysh – and her ashes will be interred in New Plymouth today. Read the releases – she was quite a woman.
3. Taratahi Profile The Taranaki Daily News has written a long profile on Taratahi’s presence in the region and you should read it (NB I work with them but it’s still a good article).
4. Extras: Young Nats dislike Otago Uni student services fees but the Uni and OUSA are getting on with Orientation; Education NZ’s future; ITF research on industry training benefits (Idealog); new IBM storage system at Canterbury; Stuart Middleton on (non-tertiary) education Ministers; the NBR Editor has some research funding suggestions for Steven Joyce.

Research & Innovation

1. Smart Crows Auckland researchers have found out how smart crows are, which we largely knew already, but this time they have video to share.
2. Extras: Canterbury PhD student looking at impact of snow on rural areas; Victoria PhD student on learning languages in a pleasurable way; Waikato Tauranga harbour study (SunLive); Auckland tobacco research; Otago Uni’s Maori research report.

Public Issues

1. Cyber Bullying Waiariki’s Narissa Bayler on cyber bullying.
2. SOE Sales Victoria’s Jason Young questions whether preference for NZers in SOE share sales might breach trade agreements.
3. Extras: Otago Uni’s Nick Wilson on turkey tails; AUT’s Grant Schofield on NZers’ health; Auckland’s Michael Littlewood on savings.

Students

1. Murderer Sentenced Honglin Yu will serve at least 17 years for the murder of fellow Chinese student Jiayi ‘Kiko’ Li (3 News, 3 News).
2. Cancelled Graduation NMIT decided to cancel today’s graduation, given all the bad weather around Nelson.
3. Disliked Graduation Canterbury’s Eric Crampton isn’t a fan of graduations so analyses why people do and don’t go.
4. Extras: Victoria rowers; Massey student’s road-inspired exhibition; Canterbury students win national accounting awards; school principal retires to attend Waiariki; Otago Uni equestrian.

Stakeholders

1. Maori Trade Training Hawkins Construction will join with Ngai Tahu, CPIT, BETA and others to support trade training for Canterbury Maori (The Press).
2. Dr Richie McCaw Lincoln will give Richie McCaw an honorary doctorate next year (and I know that doesn’t make him a Dr) along with some other lesser celebrities with decades of professional work behind them (NZN, Stuff).
3. Extras: Victoria creative writing prize and literary journal; WelTec students upgrading ferry air-conditioning; Massey’s Jan Dixon testifies in a fraud case; Game Jam at Waikato; Canterbury artist in residence Fata Feu’u.

Teaching & Learning

1. Extras: Open Poly’s new science qual for primary school teachers; Waikato’s Holly Thorpe off to teach on a Fulbright.

1. Student Fees Otago Uni has boosted its 2012 student services fees by $92 above the uni and students’ assn charges this year, while OUSA will be able to keep all of its staff.
2. 13 Top Professors Auckland has named 13 new Distinguished Professors – 5 existing ones were appointed in 2001. Does this start an arms race amongst universities on titles?
3. Canterbury Analysis Eric Crampton analyses market movements in Canterbury bonds, which he and I were discussing last week.
4. Extras: new fundraiser at Otago Uni (release); Canterbury grad survey; editorial on alternative education; more stuff about Te Wananga o Raukawa’s poor performance.

Research & Innovation

1. Higgs Boson Victoria’s Prof Shaun Hendy gives a very matter of fact explanation of the latest Higgs Boson results.
2. Zebrafish Otago Uni has been given another $100K for its zebrafish facility.
3. WWI A new history of WWI is being edited by Massey’s Prof Glyn Harper.
4. Extras: Massey’s Natasha Swainson on sheep methane emissions; Massey Prof Ralph Sims on energy-smart agriculture; Canterbury’s Prof Arthur Williamson on carbon storage; Canterbury quake-related smartphone app; Auckland’s Yvette Wharton is studying Antarctic penguins; Massey hair dye and lipstick tests; Massey’s work with an electronics cluster; two Massey books on Māori development.

Public Issues

1. Politics Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards on the Labour leadership (and more detail).
2. Media Regulation Canterbury’s Donald Matheson on proposed new media regulation.
3. Charter Schools Auckland’s Peter O’Connor launches a passionate attack on charter schools.
4. Extras: Otago Uni’s emeritus Prof Helen Leach has a Xmas cakes book; letter to the editor by Waikato’s Prof David Lowe; Auckland’s Prof Scott Optican on a former All Black’s name suppression; Canterbury’s Greg Newbold on anti-police behaviour and on the RNZ reporter’s murder; Rena penguin photos and video; Waikato coastal forum.

Students

1. Extras: a Victoria student on crime near where a RNZ reporter was killed.

Stakeholders

1. Extras: Massey’s Prof Paul Kenyon talking to farmers; the Open Poly is picking up a failed finance company director as a student.

Teaching & Learning

1. Medical Simulation Auckland’s medical simulation centre is covered well in this story – worth a read.
2. 3D Training A 3D mine rescue training simulator will be set up near Greymouth.

1. Whitireia-WelTec Merger Steven Joyce has approved the Whitireia-WelTec council merger.
2. Fees There were fears that Otago Uni’s fees would rise by 4% and they did.
3. CPIT Settlement CPIT has settled an agreement with TEU members.
   
4. National’s Policy Me on TV about National’s policy yesterday morning.
5. Artena Merger Artena put out a release about how well the EIT-Tairawhiti merger went on the student management system side.
6. Extras: progress on Otago Uni building at new stadium; Massey’s new natural sciences degree; assessment services provider wins award; NMIT building wins another award (it will win my “most-mentioned building” award this year).

Research & Innovation

1. Sequelae A Canterbury release about a book for children might show why academics shouldn’t write their own releases, with the introduction of the word sequelae with no explanation. Or it could be a ruse to encourage you to Google it and find out what it means, in which case I’ll let you find out.
2. Urgency Victoria’s Claudia Geiringer, Polly Higbee and Prof Elizabeth McLeay have researched Parliament’s use of urgency.
3. Extras: Waikato electric car; paper cites Auckland meth baby research; Waikato’s Ngahuia Te Awekotuku sells out French translation of tattoo book.

Public Issues

1. Election Massey’s Deborah Russell on second class citizens; the tea tapes attracted comments from Massey’s Claire Robinson (good piece) and Victoria’s Steven Price; Victoria’s Ana Gilling on Back Benches; Massey’s Grant Duncan on coalition options; Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards on last leaders’ debate;
2. Penguins Massey released penguins (Stuff). Back In less telegenic work, Waikato will be researching the long-term impact of the spill on the environment (SunLive).
3. Extras: Otago Uni’s Phi Bishop on saving frogs; Auckland’s Prof Kenneth Husted on innovation; Auckland’s Prof Raymond Miller on MMP; AUT’s Grant Schofield and Auckland’s Katie Fitzpatrick on kids’ fitness.

Students

1. Student Unrest An Otago Uni Council member complained about publicity over student unrest and the impact it might have on enrolments.
2. Extras: Otago Poly careers day in Central Otago; Unitec’s Grad Show; BOPP end of year shows (BOP Times); baking showcase at MIT; Waiariki runner Samara Shepherd; ESITO’s top trainee.

Stakeholders

1. Fibre Training EIT and Unison have signed a training deal, including a facility, to support fibre rollout (Hawke’s Bay Today).
2. Court Case Victoria’s Yvonne van Roy on trial over the death of a cyclist.
3. Avocado WITT’s Denis Duthie cooks with avocado.
4. Extras: Auckland’s Icehouse signs deal with iwi; Open Poly’s Merilyn Merritt on cleaning up the Waiwhetu Stream -it runs by the campus; Unitec students arrive in Haiti; Massey-supported community garden; Massey won Maori language award in tertiary education sector; AUT refugee education conference; Massey’s global entrepreneurship week; Chinese visit to Massey; recognition for Massey work after Christchurch quake.

Teaching & Learning

1. Top Lecturer Massey’s Prof Jill Hooks gets Albany lecturer of the year.

1. MIT Review It is review season and MIT has the latest one. TEU has released details of 28 potential job losses in a rightsizing review.
2. Labour Policy Labour released training policy.
3. Whitireia Settlement Whitireia has reached a new employment agreement with TEU members.
4. Commercialisation Auckland has an interesting new Masters in Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship. It almost interests me.
5. Extras: Open Poly won a Lower Hutt business award; Otago Uni building gets Historic Places Trust recognition.

Research & Innovation

1. Weta Head Size Wetas with bigger heads have more mating success, but Massey’s Cilla Wehi is trying to find out if there’s a downside to having a big head, but has not found one yet (NZ Herald, Stuff). There’s a good weta video too.
2. Royal Society Honours More on Otago Uni’s Christine Winterbourn, while Massey recognises Shaun Cooper’s win and Victoria recognises Prof Colleen Ward’s and Prof Rod Downey’s wins. Auckland Joanna Wojnar won a writing award.
3. Extras: AUT’s Prof Paul Moon on his latest book; Auckland’s Prof Annie Goldson wins best director award; Massey’s Prof Bernhard Breier on Omega-3.

Public Issues

1. The Tapes AUT’s Greg Treadwell calls the Police requests for info state bullying but blames it all on John Key. Auckland’s Gehan Gunasekara says there was nothing illegal about the taping. Canterbury’s Ursula Cheer on the legal issues around the search warrants.
2. David Bain Otago Uni’s Kevin Dawkins on David Bain’s compensation bid.
3. Privatisation Auckland’s Prof John Farrar put some political views about privatisation in a poorly structured media release. Really, I think some people should stick to bugging their Facebook friends with their political views rather than putting out media releases.
4. Election Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards and Auckland’s Barry Gustafson on dirty tricks.
5. Language Survival Victoria is bringing back an alumnus from the 1950s to speak at a languages forum.
6. Obama Otago Uni’s Robert Patman thinks a new Marine base in Australia might help (or complicate) NZ-US (or NZ-China) relations.
7. Extras: Auckland’s Jane Kelsey on free trade and Ken Palmer on local body election advertising limits; Massey’s David Raubenheimer on how animals obesity can be used to understand humans’ obesity; Canterbury’s Jarrod Gilbert on gang expansion.

Students

1. Student Marketing AUT is trying to attract Manukau students to new postgrad courses, while Massey is trying to fill a new Bachelor of Natural Sciences.
2. Extras: student off to NY entrepreneurship competition; NorthTec students’ RWC experience; Massey student standing for election; first-time student voters.

Stakeholders

1. Extras: Wintec honours a business partner; TWOA manager picks up chair role at dairy farm business; Massey getting penguins ready for release.

The organisers made some good choices about sessions and I really enjoyed some industry presentations by people from IPENZ (Andrew Cleland), Solid Energy and Federated Farmers. There were also some interesting presentations on EPIs from Open Poly and EPI responses from UCOL. Numbers were probably a bit down on last year, but they ran it in Christchurch as a sign of solidarity so fewer people probably made it than if it had been in Wellington. Being in Christchurch, they did have some great singing by CPIT’s NASDA students and jazz by Jazz School students. I also heard some great gossip but was sworn to silence on the funniest part.

Reflecting on the differences between last year and this year, the sessions might have been a little better this year but the mood wasn’t as good. It wasn’t that people were grumpy – to the contrary, the ITP sector is in reasonably good heart with limited regulatory change and good finances. The issue was that last year I sensed a pride that they had set up a new organisation and were running a well-attended and positive event. This year, they were running another conference but there didn’t seem to be a clear purpose to it all for NZITP.

You see, while NZITP has a nice-looking website, they have only been in the news once in the last 12 months as far as I can see (in January). And they didn’t launch anything major at the conference. Now you don’t need to be in the news in order to achieve things as a lobbyist (often it can be quite to the contrary), but I do wonder how often you can run a conference if there isn’t much forward momentum from the host organisation. Part of the point is to attract people to a place and promote your vision along the way, both through overt launches of your latest ideas and implicit reinforcement of your core philosophy. I didn’t really see the NZITP brand in the event (or in the last year).

That said, it was a good couple of days catching up with some good people. And if they run it again next year, I’ll go (and so should you).