Tom Baker, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The former finance minister starts as vice-chancellor of Otago University in July. But such appointments call for more robust debate about the perceived independence of our tertiary institutions.
Universities should shift toward co-operative governance structures that foster collaborative approaches to teaching and research, which can help tackle the crises we collectively face.
From commerce to public policy, cuts to New Zealand’s university humanities departments will have repercussions well beyond the so-called ‘ivory towers’.
Nicola Gaston, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The crisis in New Zealand universities is directly traceable to years of sustained underfunding and means they now lack vital research and development capacity.
Puerto Rico has reached an agreement to partially settle its historic bankruptcy crisis. But public cuts to education and health care are unlikely to ease, creating ongoing challenges for Puerto Ricans
The subsidies for student places up to 2024 fall about $1.1 billion short of the level needed to create the extra places the government promised its Job-ready Graduates policy would deliver.
With high fees and COVID restrictions in place, student satisfaction in England is on the downturn. How should they think about the value of their studies?
It’s one of the largest funding cuts to any university course, and will leave Australia ill-equipped to deal with the environmental challenges of the future.
Three decades ago, in another time of upheaval in higher education, 7% of working-age Australians had a degree. Today 33% have one. More people than ever have a stake in what happens to universities.
The implications of the government’s announcement are about more than incentivising the career trajectories of students. They are a direct assault on the premise of universities.
The education minister has outlined reforms to higher education funding aimed at producing ‘job ready graduates’. But his announcements don’t seem completely in line with the data.
In 2018, domestic numbers for undergraduate courses fell for the first time since 2013 – they will remain stagnant for some years. This and other factors put unis at face financial risk.
Tensions between the government and the university sector ran high in 2018, with the government cutting funding to student places and research and a big push back from universities.