Extramural President's Blog » voice

Annual Limits on Student Loans

ralph — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:57:15 +0000

Too much study to cope with?

The Government is consulting with students and tertiary institutions about placing a limit on the amount students can borrow in any one year. The National Party has a manifesto commitment to consult on and institute a limit on funding EFTS units per year. Using Equivalent Full Time (EFTS) removes the problem of differing costs for differing courses.

What they are proposing is that a maximum of 2.0 EFTS worth of funding can be drawn from a student loan in any one year.

Their concern is students borrowing for a large amount of study and changing their minds multiple times about what they will study. It therefore also appears that they may seek to limit the number of times a student can change their mind about a course of study in a year.

The Ministry document does not mention a relationship with student failure but suggests that this limit would prevent taxpayer money being wasted on large student loans that provide no benefit to the borrower.

Feedback is through online survey and closes on the 3^rd of May. The key point to address is the proposal that a maximum of 2.0 EFTS worth of funding can be drawn from a student loan in any one year.

I encourage students to have their say.

Free Membership: get benefits and support the student voice

ralph — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:29:13 +0000

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!

Representing Students’ Views to the University

ralph — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:13:04 +0000

Does student representation matter? Does it matter whether there are students involved in decisions about course regulations, the support services offered, or how students receive their coursework?

Massey staff often seek the input and advice of students. They see the need for a student view. Supporting their view, the Government has stipulated in new legislation that students must be involved in decisions about student services. So it seems the answer is yes, it is important to have students involved.

Students need a mechanism for engaging with the University

But what about students? Do they see the need for student representatives to be engaged with the University about issues that affect students? If the University is going to seek student opinion then won’t Massey just ask students when they need too? Isn’t that good enough?

Well, no. It is not good enough for an institution where adults are being taught. Research shows that institutions that engage with students as adults and provide opportunities for students to influence their learning environment rate best for student satisfaction and success.

Feedback that is provided by disparate comments without full understanding of context, and consequences is not student engagement. At worst it can be used to justify institutional goals, at best it will support initiatives that benefit students in an ad hoc manner.

An organised, connected and resourced group of elected students can provide coherent and accurate feedback to the University. Such a group will understand the context of what they are being asked and the impact of what they are saying. This is where students can influence their environment, and prevent student feedback being used for out-of-context purposes.

So it matters that students are involved, but importantly, it matters how they are involved. I will be advocating for a Student Council to be set up for the purpose of representing students to Massey. This body will have representatives elected from the entire student body and will advise Massey on matters that affect students.

It is the student associations that carry the responsibility of moving to a representative system that is not connected to association membership and allows all students to have a voice in their learning environment. This will be a key goal of the President of EXMSS in 2012.

Why have Student Representatives?

ralph — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:29:03 +0000

What good do student reps do? A cutting question for a student representative. I expect that students would continue learning regardless of whether or not student representatives exist. But there is a case to be made to support student representation. In a committee today some papers were tabled that changed the learning Outcomes and number and weighting of the paper’s assessment. This is not normally a problem except that the paper was for 2012. Students may have already enrolled. Imagine their surprise when the find out the first assessment is not 10 but 20 per cent of the final grade, and that all the assessments had changes. Imagine their surprise when they learn – perhaps a few weeks into the paper – that the learning outcomes had also changed.

Student Reps support University communication to students

I made the point that students who have enrolled should be notified of the change. This was noted and agreed – the paper cordinator was instructed to ‘make it so’. This point would not have been raised if the student rep had not been at the meeting. This is a small point – but possibly significant to a few students.

At Academic Board the issues are University wide. With the roll-out of the eight year rule communication is again an issue for students. As your representative I have been vocal in my opposition to this regulation and now that it comes to implementation I continue to advocate for students’ interests.

The communication to students, regarding the eight year rule, will be released soon. If it had not been for your student reps this rule may have been more restrictive and the communication a minor detail. Following student rep involvement, I expect a clear explanation of the regulation changes and for the opportunities to negotiate a personal pathway to be included.

EXMSS supporting Maori Students

ralph — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:23:28 +0000

The student associations EXMSS and Manawatahi have many common interests. Indeed, Manawatahi recognises distance students as members. A shared goal is to support and promote engagement with wider issues. To this end EXMSS sponsored the travel costs of Manawatahi to attent the Te Mana Akonga Te huinga tauira, held in Auckland early in September.

It is a pleasure to support an active and engaged group of students who seek to improve things going forward. It sounds like the hui was a success and the national voice of Maori students is clear and united under the direction of tumuaki Jacqueline Poutu and the TMA Kaiarahi.

Can you complete a Bachelors in eight years?

ralph — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:07:35 +0000

A new regulation is proposed by Massey: “there will be an eight year maximum time for completion of any one Massey University qualification.”

Driving Change - Tertiary Education Minister Stephen Joyce

For students, this means you must complete three papers per year – with no failed papers and no breaks, in order to gain a Bachelors degree under the regulations existing when you enrolled.

If you have not completed by eight years, Massey will seek to award you the highest qualification achieved: a certificate or diploma. You may continue to study but graduation will be under current regulations. You would then surrender your certificate or diploma in order to graduate with a Bachelors degree once you have the required papers.

Driving this proposed regulation is the Government’s performance based funding. Massey feels it cannot risk carrying long-term students, who do not deliver under the TEC’s funding formula.

Does Massey have a vision for its Distance programme?

What do you think of this? Massey appears to have little idea how many students this will affect. Nor do they fully understand the groups or types of students it will affect most. Will mothers, students with disabilities, or those without school qualifications be hardest hit?

Furthermore, I feel this fundamentally changes the position on access that Massey University built its distance education reputation on. Is this an issue?

I have created an opportunity for the student voice to be heard. Rather than July as planned, in mid August the regulation will go to Massey’s Academic Board for approval. Massey has agreed to report back on the number and types of students this would affect.

In order to make changes to this regulation, students will have to speak up. Send your opinion to me and I will ensure it is passed on to Steve Maharey and is tabled at the decision making body, Academic Board.

Young Students Need to Grow

ralph — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:20:24 +0000

Where do we grow up?

The purpose of a University education is not only to gain a qualification, but to grow and mature as a person. For our young students this is especially true. The Freedom of Association Bill will change that permanently. Under Voluntary Student Membership (VSM) the student experience becomes the university experience; the same type of student engagement we see in our secondary schools.

For Massey the defining qualities of a graduate are connected, creative and capable*. It is through the ‘student experience’ that a student becomes these things. Students get involved, not only their study but in clubs and sports, local community, events, and, as they progress, the support networks and systems that deliver education to themselves and their peers. Having a voice in the system and being a part of the processes that create the student experience are important for students in order to develop and grow as a person.

Under VSM the services that students once controlled will become contracted services funded by the University and delivered by the Student Association. There are services like advocacy that cannot be for members only: they are too important to the achievement of funding related completion rates. The University will have to levy students for these universally available services.

The University will therefore hold the power to decide what the student experience will be and the resulting model becomes that of a secondary school. The students must obey the rules set out by the institution and accept that what is provided is what is provided. So when is it that we expect our young students to test their voice, their opinions, and practice their organisational skills? Is this our vision of a university education?

*Capable being included in the Vice Chancellors address to new students in 2011.

Massey’s New Disciplinary Regulations

ralph — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:13:00 +0000

EXMSS represents you in Massey meetings

I have been giving feedback on the proposed Disciplinary Regulations since 2008. Good on Massey for getting students involved right from the start. There have been times when I have had to be clear and strong in my assertion that the system must serve student first and foremost.

At the November Academic Board meeting the revised disciplinary regulations for student misconduct were tabled. The regulations themselves follow the procedures of past years however the scope has widened to now include academic misconduct such as plagiarism. Two issues have emerged from the final draft which was passed through the board for inclusion into the Massey regulations: the role of the Registrar in deciding on the level of misconduct and the placing of offences on student’s transcripts, the latter of which was brought up at the meeting.

In the past cheating through exams or by copying assignments or other students work has been controlled by the teaching staff and often dealt with in differing ways across the University. Under these new regulations academic misconduct will now be described as level one, level two or level three, with L3 being the worst offence. Instances of level two and three misconduct will be recorded on a database that is available to Academic Integrity Officers (not lecturers) so that repeat offences can be noted. Level one offending is seen as an opportunity to teach the student more about the issue.

In the meeting it was suggested that L2 and L3 offences should be placed on the student’s transcript. I was vocal in opposition to this, as this could easily generate a range of negative consequences that would have repercussions far in excess of the ‘crime’ committed. After further discussion the idea was dropped.

Students discussing the issues at the 2010 EXMSS AGM

The second point is about the role that Registrars take in deciding the level of the offence. In supporting documents the level is described but there is no one to assist the Registrar in getting it right. The Registrar makes that call alone. When pointed out to the Academic Board it was agreed that further discussion should take place around the support the Registrar gets in making this call. It was also noted that the key stakeholder (students) will need to be clearly informed about the changes and possible consequences now that the stakes are much higher for students if anything goes wrong.

The student voice had an impact. Students will benefit from having a representative on Academic Board. Let’s just hope we can continue to keep students in the loop if we no longer have universal membership of the representational bodies that work this system.

Student Voice has Benefits

ralph — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:10:33 +0000

Although alone you are connected

As you are aware the Student Services Fee increases 100% for 2010 ($31 to $60). We discussed the rise with Massey and we felt they had good reasons for doing this: improved services was the focus. We then asked what the services were going to be, how many students will they reach and will the students be told?
We then offered our views, based on students feedback, and negotiated for a few things that were missing from Massey’s planned ‘new’ services. Free phone to lecturers for extramurals, an improved hardship grant that has more flexibility to tackle financial barriers such as textbooks and travel costs, the ability to have your returned assignments independently reviewed and of course we supported the Massey initiatives which include more support for those who are struggling and more regional seminars. Massey have been great with their engagement with the student associations, professional attitudes coupled with a common interest in students success has resulted in tangible benefits for students. The final suite of services will be confirmed early in 2010.