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Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

The BulletinMarch 1, 2023

A new normal beds in for universities

Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images

Students aren’t returning to lectures on campus, enrolments continue to decline, employment in the sector remains precarious and the financials are grim. Just how much trouble are universities in asks Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

 

Online lectures the “new normal”

It’s been three years since Covid first arrived in New Zealand and one aspect of life looks like it has changed quite permanently as a “new normal” beds in. As Aucklanders brace themselves for “March madness” on the roads, a phenomenon partially attributed to the return of students to the city’s tertiary education campuses, RNZ’s John Gerritsen reports that students aren’t actually returning to lecture halls on campus. Victoria University of Wellington Students Association president Jessica Ye said universities were misguided if they thought students would flock to lectures just because Covid restrictions had changed. Ye describes traditional lectures as “an incredibly passive learning experience” that’s “almost best served” by watching recorded lectures online.

The complex realities of student life

Last year, 3,000 students at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington signed a petition asking the university to make access to lecture recordings universal. The Spinoff’s Shanti Mathias reported on it at the time. The need to work to pay bills, illness, disability and family responsibilities were cited as reasons why students want the flexibility online lectures afford. Lecturers describe the emptier lecture halls as demoralising and universities are actively encouraging students to return to campus. There are a lot of reasons to want to maintain a thriving, busy campus, but one of them is financial.

University enrolment figures are continuing to decline

Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington reported a $15.7m deficit for last year and new vice-chancellor Nic Smith says that if students don’t come to the university and be physically present on campus, the university’s losses could grow. Smith describes this year’s lower-than-anticipated student enrolment figures as “confronting”. Auckland University of Technology recently ditched its plans for redundancies after losing a legal challenge and jobs for affected staff have been guaranteed for at least six months. Declining attendance was originally cited as one of the reasons for the redundancies. Unless current trends are miraculously bucked, it’s hard to see how the current environment of precarity for those who work in the sector will stabilise. University of Auckland staff will strike today for 23 hours from 12.30pm with progress on collective agreement negotiations described by the Tertiary Education Union as “slow”.

“Make no mistake, universities are in trouble” 

The passivity of the more traditional tertiary education experience is also cited in discussions about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the sector. It’s another issue Shanti Mathias has covered for The Spinoff recently. “If AI can perform the same basic synthesis that university students are assessed on, then what value does the learning they’re being assessed on provide?” she asks. Former minister of education Steve Maharey is pretty blunt in a recent assessment of the future of universities, with a particular focus on financial sustainability. Headlined “Adapt or wither”, Maharey writes “Make no mistake, universities are in trouble.”

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Rob Campbell maintains his comments about National’s water plan were made as a private citizen
Rob Campbell maintains his comments about National’s water plan were made as a private citizen

The BulletinFebruary 28, 2023

The line between private citizen and public servant

Rob Campbell maintains his comments about National’s water plan were made as a private citizen
Rob Campbell maintains his comments about National’s water plan were made as a private citizen
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Te Whatu Ora chair Rob Campbell says his comments on social media about National’s water infrastructure plan were made as a private citizen. Does that distinction apply in this case, asks Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

 

An outsider still bound by code of conduct

Rob Campbell is a self-described outsider according to this profile by the Herald’s Matt Nippert (paywalled). A former unionist, turned corporate director, Campbell is now the chair of crown agencies Te Whatu Ora and the Environmental Protection Agency, and chancellor at Auckland University of Technology. A column of his about infrastructure featured in The Bulletin just last week. He is on the record as supporting co-governance. His candour has often marked him as different from other public sector leaders. None of that disqualifies him from being bound by the code of conduct for Crown entity board members that says they must “act in a politically impartial manner”.

National calls comments “appalling”

Over the weekend Campbell posted a link to the National party’s newly released water infrastructure plan on LinkedIn. He went on to say he thought National’s policy was a thin disguise for the dog whistling on co-governance and questioned the wisdom of the plan. National’s Simeon Brown called the comments “appalling”, while Act’s David Seymour says Campell should lose his job. Prime minister Chris Hipkins would not express confidence in Campbell yesterday and the matter now lies with health minister Ayesha Verrall and environment minister David Parker.

David Seymour questions political neutrality of “large parts of the Wellington bureaucracy”

Seymour went further in a tweet last night, writing that “Rob Campbell is just the tip of the iceberg. Large parts of the Wellington bureaucracy are openly sympathetic to the Left and that is a serious problem.” You could cynically say this is a bit like marking your own homework but in a recent survey done by BusinessDesk, 97% of public sector employees said they had a good understanding of what it meant to be a politically neutral public servant. They were more concerned about their ability to give “free and frank advice” and transparency, with comments pointing to a fear of political or career repercussions and media “sensationalism”.

“By gum, he’s got to be a lot more thoughtful”

Campbell maintains his comments were made as a private citizen. There are contexts where you could argue about the line between private and public, especially on social media where lines do blur. Campbell’s situation seems more clear cut. There is also a “what’s good for the goose, is good for the gander” argument here about setting an example or at the very least, not casting doubt on the public service’s neutrality for the sake of the many who do hold their tongues in public. No one is truly politically neutral, and Campbell’s views have never been hidden but in this instance, there is a line and the need for the perception of political neutrality to be maintained. Speaking to RNZ’s Craig McCulloch this morning, former government statistician Len Cook recalls getting into hot water in 1977, when he wrote a paper critiquing the pension. On Campbell, Cook had this to say: “New Zealand doesn’t want to lose his forthrightness, but by gum he’s got to be a lot more thoughtful about how he applies it.”