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The BulletinSeptember 6, 2022

Low unemployment and border closures take a toll on tertiary education

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AUT vice-chancellor cites a significant drop in international students, alongside growing inflation, economic pressures and a “buoyant employment market” as driving a proposed restructure, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Bulletin.

 

Drop in international student numbers and economic headwinds given as rationale for job losses

On Friday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern was at the University of Auckland to welcome back international students. A couple of hundred metres down the road, vice-chancellor of Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Damon Salesa was likely preparing for yesterday’s announcement that outlined restructure plans in which 5% of staff at AUT may lose their jobs. Salesa cited a significant drop in international students, alongside growing inflation, economic pressures and a “buoyant employment market” as driving the proposed restructure. The Herald’s Akula Sharma breaks down which departments are being asked to reduce staffing numbers.

Risk of reliance on international students flagged in 2019

It’s a marked contrast to 2019, when AUT reported a 9% increase in international student numbers and mentioned the construction of student accommodation as important in its bid to continue to attract international students. Almost every annual report from every university in 2019 cites similar increases and drives to continue international student recruitment efforts. In 2019, then tertiary education union (TEU) president Michael Gilchrist said such a high level of foreign enrolment posed serious financial risks. In some accurate foreshadowing, Gilchrist also said: “There’s the risk of shocks such as the Asian crisis or a financial crisis or bird flu or something like that.”

Low unemployment rate driving lower enrolments at tertiary institutions

None of this foreshadowing will be comforting to the staff that face job losses. TEU president Tina Brown said staff were shocked and said it was short-sighted at a time when we’re needing to grow the number of skilled workers. A tight labour market means people can hop straight into a job or a funded apprenticeship. It’s a challenge Australia is also grappling with as this Australian Financial Review article points out. The low unemployment rate was given as one of the reasons for Te Pūkenga’s deficit. Staff at Te Pūkenga are still awaiting their fate after consultation wrapped up last week. National’s tertiary education spokesperson Penny Simmonds said any new structure through which savings will be achieved was likely to involve redundancies.

$230m for apprenticeships while AUT says it needs to cut staff costs by $21m

The correlation between tertiary qualifications, productivity and wage growth was challenged by a BERL paper in 2021 titled “Does New Zealand need so many young people studying for a degree?” It found little correlation between being tertiary qualified and growth in productivity or wages, while also noting shortages of skilled labour have persisted. Research done by BERL in 2019 found people who had completed a technical apprenticeship had significantly greater earnings than those who had gained a Bachelor of Science after 15 years. The government has had a big focus on apprenticeships lately, extending the apprenticeship boost scheme until the end of 2023, with a $230m investment in a pre-budget announcement this year. AUT’s restructuring proposal is based on having to cut staffing costs by a tenth of that figure.

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Former prime minister Helen Clark says the “wars on drugs” has failed (Photo: supplied)
Former prime minister Helen Clark says the “wars on drugs” has failed (Photo: supplied)

The BulletinSeptember 5, 2022

The game-changing drug programme still waiting for a national rollout

Former prime minister Helen Clark says the “wars on drugs” has failed (Photo: supplied)
Former prime minister Helen Clark says the “wars on drugs” has failed (Photo: supplied)

Northland’s Te Ara Oranga methamphetamine harm reduction programme started in 2017. For every dollar spent, $3-$7 in benefits are gained. So where are the plans to roll it out nationally, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Bulletin.

 

“The war on drugs has failed”

So says former prime minister Helen Clark. Clark’s foundation released a report yesterday calling for a complete rethink in the way we deal with methamphetamine in New Zealand and a proper pivot to a health-based approach. It follows calls from MP Chlöe Swarbrick to do the same and correlates with a June survey that found 68% of New Zealanders support replacing the country’s Misuse of Drugs Act with a health-based approach. The report recommends a pilot programme to give methamphetamine users a substitute stimulant – or the drug itself. It also calls, once again, for the national rollout of the highly successful Te Ara Oranga programme, a collaboration between police, health agencies and the community in Northland that’s been described as “game-changing” and has proven to reduce reoffending by 34%.

Minister committed to rolling programme out nationwide in 2021

Health minister Andrew Little committed to rolling the Te Ara Oranga programme out nationwide in November 2021. Since then, we’ve seen it rolled out in the eastern Bay of Plenty (BOP) with services now available in Murupara. Budget 2022 provided $3.5m for further expansion in the area. National party health spokesperson Shane Reti has been a supporter of the programme for a while and said in February that a future National government would expand Te Ara Oranga across the country. Andrew Little told The Detail in March the government is committed to rolling the programme out by the end of this parliamentary term. I’m not entirely sure if that’s a definitive statement on the rollout being national or whether the BOP rollout is the sum total of it.

The programme is comparatively low cost

The Herald’s Jared Savage was seeking answers on the progress of the rollout in February (paywalled). “Significant funding will need to be secured for a full roll-out of the programme,” said a spokesperson. That significant funding was later clarified as being $38m. An evaluation of Te Ara Oranga in 2021 put the cost of a national rollout at $40-45m while estimating that for every dollar spent, $3-$7 was gained in benefit. The 2020 Drug Harm Index (DHI) estimated methamphetamine causes $823.5m in social harm. The foundation’s report notes the DHI isn’t a perfect exercise in estimating the cost of drug harm, but no one is arguing that from a relatively small methamphetamine user base (an estimated 9000 people using monthly or more), a disproportionate amount of harm is caused. It’s also likely that the criminal approach we take to methamphetamine use masks the true numbers and impact.

Increase in methamphetamine detected in wastewater

Responding to the release of yesterday’s report, acting minister of health Peeni Henare (Little is out of the country in his capacity as GCSB minister) said the government is already working on a drug reform programme to treat use as a health issue not a criminal one. Henare pointed to the rollout of Te Ara Oranga in the eastern Bay of Plenty. It is worth noting that the programme does require a real mindset shift, specialist training for those involved and buy-in from the community. That all takes time but an interim evaluation of the programme gave it the big tick back in 2018. ESR’s Andrew Chappell told 1News that there’s been a rise in methamphetamine detected in wastewater based on pre-Covid level so the problem also isn’t getting any smaller as time goes by.

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