EXMSS has been preparing for this transition and has funds to cover the shortfall in 2012.  Membership benefits include a super-cheap shuttle service [...]]]> For the first few months of 2012 membership of EXMSS will be free! If you are enrolled for 2012 I advise you to join EXMSS now. Membership is for the academic year.

EXMSS has been preparing for this transition and has funds to cover the shortfall in 2012.  Membership benefits include a super-cheap shuttle service to and from the Manawatu campus, insider knowledge, through the e-zine Off Campus, about what’s going on in the tertiary sector and behind the screens at Massey, access to high-level advocacy support, and the EXMSS scholarships, plus other giveaways.

Become part of the EXMSS community

Members are also supporting a student voice that raises the concerns of distance, part-time and adult students at national level and within Massey. These students, particularly part-timers, are singled out as underachievers by the Government and that needs to stop. Massey is caught in the middle and has effectively been forced to reduce its distant student numbers or risk millions in government funding. All because the Government doesn’t get the role part time study has in our society.

Services delivered to all students will eventually be delivered independently of EXMSS, although during the 2012 transition period some may still be managed by EXMSS.

I am pleased to say that EXMSS has a clear strategic plan, clarity about the services it wishes to provide to its members and good strategies for providing an independent voice for distance and part time students. The first EXMSS media release is taking shape and the details of the great deal in shuttle services will soon emerge. Stay connected and stay strong!

On a quiet Monday evening the School of English auditorium rang with raised voices and laughter. Mixed teams of students and lecturers dramatically argued the moot That Distance Education Does Not Go Far Enough.

The Affirmative team, saying that we need to go further [...]]]>

The Negative team. Jacqeline Rowarth, Amber Malloy and Kent Gearry

On a quiet Monday evening the School of English auditorium rang with raised voices and laughter. Mixed teams of students and lecturers dramatically argued the moot That Distance Education Does Not Go Far Enough.

The Affirmative team, saying that we need to go further in order to provide the best education possible to all members of society was led by Ralph Springett from EXMSS. Jacqeline Rowarth, leader of the negative, made it very clear that there are many groups in society that felt distance education had gone far enough.

The adjudicator Virginia Goldblatt, had her work cut out for her keeping order. Virginia is blessed with a seemingly supernatural ability to cut people both down and off simultaneously so interjections seemed to assist the current speaker on most occasions.

Team leaders in action

At the end of the hilarity the negative team took line honours; success indicated by the adjudicators improvised clap-o-meter. The point was made that this seemed an affront to Massey’s vision of the future, but by then it was well past wine o’clock and our attention had turned to having another and polishing off the last of the sandwiches.

Good times as part of the celebration of 50 years of distance study at Massey University.

Massey University extramural students are infuriated by the Government’s continuing attack on part time studies.

Performance information published by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is misleading and favours institutions that focus on full time internal students. Massey, with its large part time extramural cohort, is being penalised for providing [...]]]>

Why don't they get it?

Massey University extramural students are infuriated by the Government’s continuing attack on part time studies.

Performance information published by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is misleading and favours institutions that focus on full time internal students. Massey, with its large part time extramural cohort, is being penalised for providing education to those balancing study with work, parenting and financial pressures.

“The government has lost the plot when it comes to the value of part time study,” says Ralph Springett, President of the Massey University Extramural Students’ Society. “It is ridiculous that students who avoid taking a student loan and work productively are the ones singled out as non performers.”

With performance information linked to funding, the pressure will now be on for Massey to reduce its risk around part time learners. This can be achieved by providing more support for students or reducing the number of part time students – as happened when Massey’s summer school abruptly closed enrolments in August.

“These figures are not useful for students as Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce has suggested. They mislead and confuse.

“While the TEC has stated that low completion does not mean the provider was poor, that context will not be obvious to students. The information only serves funding purposes,” says Mr Springett.

Linking performance with funding is a driver for student service levy increases. Student services are a key tool in improving completions and institutions now have a clear incentive to increase these costs. In the last two years Massey University has increased its student services levy by 300% in order to provide better support for students in the absence of adequate government funding.

Stephen Joyce on Q+A discussing student loans and completion rates.

“It appears as if the government has not thought this through at all,” says Mr Springett. “We now have a tertiary system that cannot contain its rising fees, fails to offer students any meaningful information about the sector, cannot provide the courses it advertises at the start of the year and does not value the lowest-public-cost form of education. Shame on you, Minister Joyce.”

Massey and other universities around New Zealand are being forced to introduce regulations that deliver on the Governments Tertiary Education Strategy. Forced because some institutions would prefer to maintain a student body that reflects New Zealand’s education needs, not some reactive strategy that fails to understand educations role in society and [...]]]>

University study? Think again.

Massey and other universities around New Zealand are being forced to introduce regulations that deliver on the Governments Tertiary Education Strategy. Forced because some institutions would prefer to maintain a student body that reflects New Zealand’s education needs, not some reactive strategy that fails to understand educations role in society and economic recovery.

The govenment, not satisfied with the impact of the TES are now looking to restrict access further for mature students. Imagine enquiring about a course and being told that your University Entrance qualification is not good enough. Sorry UE is not what is says. UE means you only have the right to enter university as a Special Admission.

That means you will have to meet a set of criteria that could be cuturally based, academically based or luck based. You will not know if you are successfull until the last minute and your place will gone if you fail or take a break for more than two years.

There is a window of opportunity to have your say. NZQA, who are reviewing entrance criteria, are calling for submissions. I will be submitting on your behalf. Please send me your views and I will make sure thay are included in the EXMSS submission.

I have recently forwarded a submission discussing the Draft Tertiary Education Strategy to the Minister of Education. This is EXMSS providing a voice to the Government on your behalf, you can read the submission here and the Draft TES here.

The Draft TES has no mention of life long learning, it [...]]]>

Is younger better?

I have recently forwarded a submission discussing the Draft Tertiary Education Strategy to the Minister of Education. This is EXMSS providing a voice to the Government on your behalf, you can read the submission here and the Draft TES here.

The Draft TES has no mention of life long learning, it appears singularly focused on full-time youth enrolments. The TES also indicates that funding for institutions will be related to completion statistics. This comes at a time when enrolments have been capped. So what will be the result of these changes?

Less places for part-time mature students. Late enrolment or late fee payment will likely result in exclusion. You may have to enroll (and pay) in January for summer school just to be sure of a place. The Draft TES puts pressure on Massey’s extramural numbers due to that mode’s completion statistics. For Massey one reaction would be to cut extramural numbers favor of internal places at Albany. This is not something Massey wants to consider but if the pressure keeps up then the funding criteria will govern Massey’s behavior: maximizing Government funding is a key component of Massey’s vision.

Maori will experience reducing access. Most Maori students at Massey are adults (over 25), If entry focuses on internal full-time youth, then Maori will suffer more than the average. The TES describes an education system that fails to consider the manner in which Maori achieve their educational goals yet is suggesting that the strategy will increase Maori participation in higher tertiary education. Who did the Ministry talk to before writing the Draft TES?

The Ministry has failed to write a coherent document; the Draft TES appears disjoint, misguided and visionless.

Massey has also submitted on the Draft TES and mirrored many of my concerns, but will the Government listen? If you reply to this strand then I will group up the comments and write to the Minster reflecting your views.