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Thursday, November 27, 2008

The joy of tertiary education


Take cap off students' fees, say universities
The heads of New Zealand's universities say the Government is unfairly doling out money to students and forgetting the universities themselves. They also want the cap on fees removed so universities can set the cost of courses.

Here we go, change of Government and look how quick the University Corporation want to slip the leash of social responsibility and start charging astronomical amounts from students who will put it all on loans anyway, further stunting students fiscal position with even more debt, and it’s a double whammy, the corporate Universities want less funding for student allowances AND they want to increase their fees. When we had a student movement that was prepared to fight against such self interest over educational responsibilities such nefarious plans could be held at bay, but sadly there hasn’t been a whimper out of the national student movement for almost a decade. If students aren’t prepared to stand up for themselves and fight the Universities, then bugger all anyone else will.

5 Comments:

At 27/11/08 8:31 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a quote from today's Hereald article on the ANZ's 20% deposit decisions . . . . .

>
Professor Hargreaves said. "If you suddenly double the amount you require, then it is going take people longer to get that together."
>

If this is the standard of insight our professorial academics are capable of, then we should close all the universities down and send our youth somewhere else to study!

The dumbing down of our country in the last decade is nowhere quite so well illustrated to me as in this 'insight'.

 
At 27/11/08 11:22 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

No point in having flash universities if people cannot afford to study in them.

 
At 27/11/08 12:06 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The problem is too many people going through the university system. There should be more focus on getting people into vocational training and not pushing 18 year olds straight into the university system when they are often not sure of even what they want to study.

 
At 27/11/08 12:49 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes lets get back to free education, and free curriculum as well.

Our universities are now just servicing the ruling class with professionals, managers, and human resource personnel to keep the wheels of capital grinding on.

I feel sorry for the kids facing this bleak future. No wonder we are into binge drinking. No wonder NZ has such a high youth suicide rate.

Well the crisis will wake people up back to the fight.

 
At 28/11/08 1:36 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

THE FORESHORE AND SEABED WAS NOT "A CONFISCATION" ON 'EYE TO EYE'?
>
> DON BRASH SAID;
>
> "WE ARE ONE COUNTRY WITH MANY PEOPLES, NOT SIMPLY A SOCIETY OF PAKEHA AND
> MAORI
> WHERE THE MINORITY (OR ELITE) HAS "A BIRTHRIGHT" TO THE UPPER HAND!
>
> THERE HAS BEEN A DANGEROUS SHIFT TOWARDS RACIAL SEPARATISM IN NEW ZEALAND
> WITH
> THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOW (INCREASINGLY) ENTRENCHED TREATY "GRIEVANCE"
> INDUSTRY.HIS VIEWS ARE FIRMLY LOCATED WITHIN A NEOLIBERAL IDEOLOGY THAT
> REGARDS
> EVERY INDIVIDUAL AS BEING BORN WITH EQUAL LIFE CHANCES AND WITH EQUAL
> OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE AND ACHIEVE WHATEVER THEY SO DESIRE.INEQUALITIES
> ARE EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF INDIVIDUAL "FAILURE" WHERE ABILITY PLUS "EFFORT"
> ALWAYS EQUALS MERIT;THE MERITOCRATIC EQUATION.FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS NOW AND
> ESPECIALLY SINCE 1984, NEOLIBERALISM HAS EXERTED A DOMINANT INFLUENCE ON
> EDUCATION POLICY.THIS RESTS ON A CONCEPTION, NOW LARGELY UNDISPUTED, OF HUMAN
> BEINGS AS RATIONAL, SELF-AUTONOMOUS, SELF-INTERESTED CONSUMERS AND ACTIVELY
> COMPETITIVE INDIVIDUALS WITHIN SEMI-AUTONOMOUS INSTITUTIONS.THESE NEOLIBERAL
> REFORMS HAVE LEFT THEIR MARK ON ALMOST ALL STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN THROUGH
> THIS
> SYSTEM.IN A NEOLIBERAL ENVIRONMENT IT IS DIFFICULT TO GIVE THESE STUDENTS AN
> EDUCATION MORE FOCUSED ON EQUITY OUTCOMES , "HISTORICAL, OR PHILOSOPHICAL;
> AND
> SOCIOLOGICAL" PROMINENCE LIKE WITH "THE TREATY".
>
> OR;
>
> NEOLIBERALISM AND GLOBALISATION.
>
> SOCIAL CLASS AND POVERTY.
>
> EDUCATION AND DISABILITY.
>
> THE NEED TO UNDERSTAND "THIS CONTEXT" QUESTIONS THE VALUES OF THE INTENDED
> POLICIES FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE IN OUR SOCIETY!
>
> TO GIVE GROUPS SUCH AS MAORI SPECIAL ATTENTION IS SEEN TO ADVANTAGE THEM ONLY
> AND TO DISADVANTAGE ALL OTHERS.THIS SITUATION IS SEEN AS INHERENTLY UNFAIR.
>
> POLITICALLY THIS STATEMENT MUST ALWAYS BE READ AS AN ABROGATION OF THE
> TREATY,
> WHICH IS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN "TWO" PEOPLES.OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS THE TREATY
> HAS BEEN MANIPULATED AS THE PLAYTHING OF THOSE WHO WOULD DIVIDE AND RULE THE
> REST OF US, ONE NEW ZEALANDER FROM ANOTHER; NOT UNITE US!
>
> NGA KAUPAPA HERE:CONNECTIONS AND CONTRADICTIONS IN EDUCATION; CARPENTER,V;
> JESSON,J; ROBERTS, PETER; STEPHENSON M.
>
> PAGE 140;FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER TO BE TRANSLATED FROM TE REO IN A NZ
> EDUCATION
> TEXTBOOK.HE HUARAHI WHAKAMUA.NA COLLEEN McMURCHY PILKINGTON RA-OU KO TONY
> TRINICK KO HEMI DALE.
>
> CHRIS PRUDENCE/AUSA

 

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