@Dave@lemmy.nz @SamC@lemmy.nz already posted about this yesterday, but there’s been heaps more coverage of this story. This was yesterday:
- Newshub: Government poised to announce major bailout package for universities on brink
- Reuters: New Zealand boosts tertiary funding as universities struggle
- The Spinoff: $128m lifeline for struggling universities to be spread across all institutes
- 1News: ‘Throwing money at everything’: Uni bail out blamed on Covid response
- The Spinoff: Acting PM teases details of multimillion-dollar university rescue package
- RNZ: Rescue package for universities
- Newshub: Government to throw lifeline to struggling universities, fears ‘NZ will be a poorer place’ if courses, staff aren’t saved
- RNZ: Deputy PM Carmel Sepuloni dismisses criticism government isn’t funding universities properly
- Star News: Govt poised to help out struggling universities
- RNZ: Government announces extra $128m for cash-strapped universities, tertiary institutions
- Newshub: Government reveals new funding for tertiary education amid concerns of job losses, programmes cut
- Otago Daily Times: Otago University gets $21m bailout
- The Spinoff: $128m lifeline for struggling universities to be spread across all institutes
- Interest.co.nz: An additional $128 million will be invested into the tertiary sector to mitigate current financial problems
- RNZ: Rescue package welcomed by university sector
- NBR: Universities get $128m relief while funding is reviewed
- Stuff: $128 million boost for struggling tertiary sector welcomed
- RNZ: Political parties back extra tertiary education funding
- Interest.co.nz: Comprehensive review of university funding unveiled as government asks them to co-operate more in the wake of a funding grant to help them through crisis
- RNZ: Luxon on university funding
Plus a few press releases:
- The Beehive: Government provides significant extra support to universities and other degree providers
- Tertiary Education Union: Permanent Solutions Needed After Welcome Funding Correction
- Greens: Tertiary Lifeline Buys Time To Get Model Right
- National Party: Bailout Is Band-aid Economics Of Labour’s Making
But by the end of the day yesterday and this morning, stories were coming out saying major job cuts will probably still go ahead:
- RNZ: Major job losses for universities despite govt rescue package
- Newshub: Tertiary sector welcomes Government funding, but too early to say it will save jobs, programmes
- RNZ: Big job losses at Victoria and Otago universities to go ahead despite more government funding
- Stuff: republished on Stuff
- Otago Daily Times: Govt’s bailout won’t rescue troubled university
- RNZ: Uni staff the ‘backbone of this country’, suffering in proposed cuts - union
- Otago Daily Times: Govt uni bailout likened to a plaster
- Otago Daily Times: Otago Uni cuts still on agenda
- RNZ: Two university Vice-Chancellors calling for cooperation to end funding woes
- The Coversation: Bailout, Band-Aid or back to basics? 3 questions NZ’s university funding review must ask
And last Friday, before the funding was announced, The Spinoff ran a list of which university courses were likely to be dropped
VUW and Otago still going ahead with staff cuts 🙃
It’s partly because of the way the govt has done this extra funding, topping up based on enrolments, so the unis struggling with a dip in enrolments don’t get as much. I understand why they did it this way (to make it “fairer”), but maybe they could have had a bit of extra cash available for the unis that really needed it.
But I think some attention/pressure has to go back onto the VCs now. They are making cuts based on projected deficits, and those projections go several years into the future. Given the whole funding model could change by then, it seems crazy to lay off so many people, causing damage that will take many more years to undo.
No I didn’t… you’re thinking of @SamC
So I am. Sorry about that, @SamC