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. Building/Glass Wintec is finding it hard to fill its construction trades classes while UCOL is not filling the glass school in Wanganui.
2. New Professors Auckland has named 11 new professors.
3. Aviation 25^th Massey’s School of Aviation is celebrating 25 years of operation.
4. New ECE Centre TWOA has started a new ECE centre in Gisborne.
5. Costs Award A sacked Waiariki nursing manager has been awarded $11,000 in costs – this is just the final stage of a case we covered earlier.
6. Hon Docs Owen Glenn (large donor) and Hugh Fletcher (former Chancellor) were given honorary doctorates by Auckland.
7. Extras: Lincoln’s Ann Brower on her lucky quake escape; former South Australian Premier Mike Rann is a visiting fellow at Auckland; NorthTec is getting out to the small centres; EIT Tairawhiti going smokefree and design school head changes; Massey’s Lydia Lobb giving up booze for Feb.

Research & Innovation

1. Cadmium Lincoln’s Brett Robinson is looking into locking up excess cadmium on farms with lignite.
2. Wine Auckland’s Velimir Gayevskiy and Matthew Goddard have found that unique regional wild yeasts play a role in wine.
3. Rock Lobster Victoria’s James Bell is doing DNA tests on rock lobster/crayfish.
4. Traffic Lights Otago Uni’s Rachael McLean supports traffic lights labels on food.
5. Extras: KiwiNet database (ODT); Otago Uni’s Prof Gary Wilson off to the Antarctic; Auckland’s Raina Elley on Pacific adults’ fitness; Auckland’s Steve Matthewman on SUV purchases and Campbell Jones on the Occupy movement; comments on virus research and terrorism.

Public Issues

1. Politics Victoria’s Maria Bargh on Maori Party-National Treaty discussions and again (and AUT’s Rawiri Taonui and Paul Moon too).
2. Whale Death Massey’s Stuart Hunter did a necropsy on a Bryde’s whale.
3. Extras: Harvard professor speaking at AUT; Massey’s Bob Hargreaves on house prices (and in Wellington); support for Victoria’s Winnie Laban over Pacific languages; Auckland’s Prof Des Gorman on sedentary lifestyles; Lincoln’s Prof Keith Woodford quoted over land sales; Auckland’s Peter O’Connor on charter schools; Massey’s Prof Paul Spoonley on Auckland’s growth and Massey’s Mike Joy on dairy; Massey still has 17 penguins.

Students

1. Olympics Two Waiariki paddlers off to Olympics.
2. The Naked and Famous…will play at Auckland’s Orientation.
3. Post VSM Student group EXMSS is promoting its benefits as is the association at Waiarki.
4. Extras: SIT basketballer; woman who poured petrol over herself and lit it is now off to Massey; students doing summer jobs;; Victoria Summer Shakespeare.

Stakeholders

1. Jewellery Mentors Whitireia’s Peter Deckers came up with a great idea to match grads with their jewellery role models, who then agreed to mentor them. Now the grads are having an exhibition. What a fantastic idea.
2. Extras: write Helen Lowe is in residence at Canterbury; Massey pop-up garden.

Teaching & Learning

1. Oral Health AUT is expanding its oral health provision.
2. Extras: Otago Uni summer school weaving.

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.

1. Timetabling Staff are upset at Canterbury’s new timetable but apparently it’s set to meet student needs. There are some interesting issues raised in the story.
2. Tauranga Development BOPP, Waikato and Awanuiarangi are asking Tauranga District Council to waive rent for 33 years and initial development fees for a new joint campus (SunLive). The need for free rent to support the development seems likely to be tested hard by the Council and ratepayers.
3. Extras: Waikato writer in residence; flood work planning at Otago Uni; Otago Uni has kept its AACSB accreditation; Stuart Middleton has his first post of the year, focusing on new entrants’ prospects.

Public Issues

1. Public TV Victoria’s Peter Thompson had an op-ed on public broadcasting in the NZ Herald.
2. Extras: Auckland’s Jane Kelsey on the TPP; Waikato’s Noeline Wright on IT in schools; Southland Times cites Auckland’s Kathleen Callaghan; Canterbury’s Jarg Pettinga on Canterbury quakes; Otago Uni’s Prof Kevin Dawkins on Megaupload.

Students

1. Nuclear User-Pays An Auckland student is going to the US to present a paper on a nuclear user-pays model.
2. Extras: Canterbury student runs a great race; hard for teaching grads to get jobs; Waiariki’s Wayne Maher on the sports academy.

Stakeholders

1. Start-Ups An Otago Uni affiliated start-up has made the finals of a competition, as has one of the companies in my co-working space (uSnap.us).
2. Extras: Massey whale autopsies for DOC; OUSA squash media release makes ODT, with only one pun; Otago summer science school.

Teaching & Learning

1. Teach First Reaction There was praise for Teach First from Prof John Hattie but the NZ Herald wrote a whole editorial against the short run approach.
2. Extras: new Wintec health courses and EIT health and beauty course.

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. WITT $$ The Taranaki Daily News has some good news for WITT’s turnaround, based on a TEC report released yesterday.
2. Motel SIT SIT has bought the Aachen Motel in Invercargill to house international students.
3. Extras: flood protection work at Massey.

Research & Innovation

1. Birdflu Auckland’s Siouxsie Wiles comments on the research that may be censored to avoid knowledge about birdflu mutation to get into the wrong hands. The original story is from the US and is quite interesting.
2. Playgrounds Otago Uni’s Robin Quigg has done some research on playgrounds that probably won’t surprise you (NZN).
3. Extras: liver, gout and other research to be funded at Otago Uni; AUT’s Julian Priest on a recent exhibition.

Public Issues & Tertiary People

1. Best One Liner Massey’s Heather Kavan has named the best quote of the year, but the judging process isn’t all that transparent.
2. The Band Wintec tutor Rik Bernards is getting the old band together – a group called Knightshade.
3. Extras: Waikato’s Prof Roger Moltzen on gifted kids; Otago Poly’s Daniel Pfyl making tiramisu; NMIT tutor’s flooding woes; Victoria’s Trish Keeper on takeover authorisation.

Students

1. Puppets Unitec tutors turned a woman off children’s TV (a long time ago) so she became a puppeteer.
2. Extras: profile of AUT fashion grad; a Victoria student comments on an Occupy Wellington split; Aoraki art student.

Stakeholders

1. New House Whitireia’s helping to build a house with Habitat for Humanity.
2. Massey & Police Massey has signed a deal with the Police over research, teaching and PD.
   
3. Dog Attack An Australian academic who had her guide dog attacked while in New Zealand for a Waikato conference will probably not return to NZ.
4. Extras: Canterbury is supporting an Akaroa summer festival; Massey has some new business adviser appointments;

Teaching & Learning

1. Cambridge Centre CPIT is the new Christchurch centre for Cambridge English exams – the previous provider closed after the Feb quake. Congrats to Beth and the team.

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.

1. Lincoln Closures Lincoln is moving staff out of its Hilgendorf and Student Union buildings due to poor seismic ratings (FAQ, campus map – Hilgendorf at bottom left, student union in middle – NewstalkZB, The Press, ). They’re doing a space audit to find new places for displaced people and are confident they can find the space. But Hilgendorf is a big loss in size, while the Student Union has their cafe. Big call and reading between the lines, these buildings may not be repaired, but demolished.
2. Auckland Prof Sir Peter Gluckman spoke on research and innovation needs for NZ and also touched on tertiary education issues in Auckland. He seemed to suggest IRL would be in the new Wynyard Precinct.
3. WelTec Precinct WelTec is seeking to have a Tertiary Education Precinct designation in their area to avoid endless fights with the locals about parking and other issues.
4. School Closure Wellington Business School has closed – I might write more about it.
5. Extras: WITT’s Richard Handley calling for Taranaki buses to lift South Taranaki enrolments; Victoria marae gateway; the busy life of Massey’s Lisa Strathdee; the ITF’s Ian Elliott on system complexity.

Research & Innovation

1. Musical Law Canterbury’s Prof Stephen Todd is developing lyrics for 26 law cases set to Gilbert and Sullivan music and will soon have an illustrated songbook and CD. Why, you may ask. Why indeed. The media release has copious information, but does not answer why.
2. Dioxin Waikato’s Prof Roberta Farrell has found that fungi can reduce toxic dioxins in soil.
3. Marsden Grant Canterbury’s Michael Plank has received a late Marsden grant for work on cell invasion.
4. Personal Bacteria Otago Uni’s Prof Greg Cook has had a bacteria named after him.
5. Electric Car…from Waikato has reached Invercargill.
6. Extras: an oyster farm restoration project will provide research opportunities for Auckland students; PhD by Whitireia’s Sue Chard on 3D web-based learning environments.

Public Issues

1. Charter Schools Auckland’s Peter O’Connor and Massey’s John O’Neill don’t support charter schools.
2. Fightback Labour’s Clare Curran hits back at criticism by Otago Uni’s Bryce Edwards.
3. Google Searches Victoria’s Marc Wilson and Massey’s Robert McLachlan comment on Google searches for NZ – the Google lists are better.\
4. Moreporks Waikato’s Dai Morgan is looking for moreporks.
5. Extras: Auckland’s Paerau Warbrick on Maori voter turnout; Auckland’s Denise Conroy on retail therapy; Auckland’s Helen Cooper Thomas on networking; Victoria’s Prof Martin Manning on giant sunshades for the earth; Mana seems to want Auckland lecturers to be trespassed; Victoria’s Graham Hassall on Fiji.

Students

1. Autism Success Here’s a story of a student with autism who was well behind other students early on at school but is now studying at university.
2. Cool Fashion The ODT profiles some work by an Otago Poly fashion grad who will appear in the iD fashion show (release). Plus CPIT had their fashion show.
3. Extras: Otago Uni rowers and bank grad job; Wintec and WITT journalism grads off to Taranaki; WelTec student’s cricket coaching; UCOL golfer (and an EIT one and a Waikato one); school students’ tertiary plans in Marlborough (and again); AUT grad’s abseiling fall; Victoria student wins scriptwriting prize; OUSA club grants; Lincoln student’s water use study; Canterbury students painting pianos.

Stakeholders

1. Dealing Liquor Otago Uni’s Doug Sellman is opposing a liquor license for a supermarket in his local area and has said that New World are “probably the single biggest drug dealers in New Zealand” (RNZ, TV3).
2. Extras: Canterbury hosting a management conference; Massey’s Prof Paul Kenyon on sheep farming; AUT’s Anil Narayan on NZ CPA board; WITT’s Graeme Cawsey cooking with asparagus; leisure studies conference at Otago Uni; TWOA’s Pererika Mahika’s waka ama work; film based at Canterbury to screen; Victoria student’s design win; successful farm purchase for an AG ITO training adviser; UCOL ICT industry placements.

Teaching & Learning

1. Top Unitec Lecturer Unitec students have voted for their top lecturer and for the FIFTH year it has been won by Susan White of the Dept of Nursing. The Unitec Student Union also had a 5 minute interview with the winner, which was a nice touch – more people should do this sort of thing!

1. Centre Closes Otago Poly is closing a South Dunedin learning centre.
2. Wellness A TWOA wellness app is up for a Microsoft award.
3. VSM Kiwiblog has a post on alleged misuse of funds by VUWSA, but he’s barking up the wrong tree in my opinion (I have an involvement up there).
4. Opposition Advice Stuart Middleton offers some advice to the Opposition parties.
5. Extras: risks of giving students Internet access.

Research & Innovation

1. Ants Ant findings by Victoria academics disputed.
2. Methane Massey’s Natasha Swainson has been researching how feed affects sheep methane emissions.
3. Extras: Massey robots conference and a book on kiwi by Isabel Castro.

Public Issues

1. Forgery Arrest The man who allegedly forged an email from Massey’s Frank Sharp about a coroner’s inquiry into an air crash has been arrested (NZ Herald, RNZ).
2. Papua Coverage AUT’s Prof David Robie says the NZ media’s coverage of West Papua and other Melanesian issues is shameful.
3. Extras: Canterbury’s John Cookson on the modernisation of Christchurch; Massey’s Jane Parker on gender bias in occupations.

Students

1. NZer of the Year Massey student Kimberley White is up for NZer of the Year, for getting through a very tough situation.
2. Adopt a Kindy UCOL carpentry students are going to adopt kindy in the Wairarapa and do some free work for them as a practical exercise.
3. Extras: Waikato cellist wins music competition; Otago Uni student model plus a singer and film-maker; Wintec student’s deck problems; Waikato student off for placement at Toshiba in Japan.

Stakeholders

1. Kendo CPIT had a kendo demonstration as part of their links with a Japanese university.
2. Manawatu History Massey’s Kerry Taylor co-curated a Manawatu history exhibition.
3. Roger Awards Auckland’s Joce Jesson and AUT’s Wayne Hope are judging the Roger Awards for NZ’s worst transnational corporation.
4. Extras: NMIT tutor also co-ordinates a motorbike club.