Stewart Barbara: Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Stewart Barbara: Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:641;Page:11643] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 On behalf of New Zealand First I rise to support the Education (Establishment of Universities of Technology) Amendment Bill. At present in New Zealand we have a university of technology that is not a university of technology. The reason is that within New Zealand there is no such thing as a university of technology. If we are to accept the information given by the president of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee that institution is not a university either—or at least not yet. The Auckland University of Technology is in fact by classification a university. However it would appear that when measured by all the criteria of a university it is not considered by its peers to be a university. 
In 1990 the Education Amendment Act enabled institutions other than universities to confer degrees. This is notwithstanding the requirement within the Education Act 1989 that degrees be taught within a research-based environment. Society was experiencing an accelerating sophistication of technological skills and knowledge. I will give the House an example. In 1990 radiology was taught through Auckland Hospital. It was a 2-year course resulting in a diploma qualification. Basically it taught students how to deal with X-rays the necessary safety measures and the mechanisms for achieving images of bones. A very basic understanding of physics was required. Nowadays students are required to understand magnetic resonance imaging ultrasound and a range of other technologies and therapies. One almost needs a degree in physics in order to understand the new technologies. No longer can we recognise the skills and the knowledge required with just a diploma. Indeed not only have such skill levels been recognised with bachelor’s degrees; they are now recognised with master’s degrees. 
As polytechnics have responded to the increasing sophistication of technological knowledge some particularly those that have had a significant body of PhDs being undertaken raise questions about the concept of parity of esteem for their qualifications in relation to university qualifications. Whether or not we like it the public perception is that the qualifications offered by traditional universities are somehow superior. However if I can quote Joce Jesson: “What continually gets ignored in the public debate is that standards set by NZQA for the degrees conferred by the new institutions require higher levels of regulation compliance and oversight than many of those offered by the traditional university.” 
In 1996 both the Auckland Institute of Technology and Unitec decided to make applications for university status. There is a very broad definition of what a university is in the Act. The problem was that nobody knew what this definition meant in detail. As a consequence international panels were contracted to provide greater details. One of the criteria set was that the proportion of sub-degree students—that is certificate and diploma students—compared with graduate and postgraduate students had to be less than what both the Auckland Institute of Technology and Unitec were providing at the time. The imposition of this criterion meant that to become universities both of these institutions would have to reduce the number of sub-degree programmes. However the capacity of these institutions to range from sub-degree programmes to degree programmes was their very greatest strength. 
At a time when there is a desperate shortage of technical and vocational skills the last thing that we need is a situation where all of the incentives for our most successful vocational and technical institutions are to reduce their number of sub-degree programmes. Yet that is what the current environment does. 
What this bill is trying to do is create a class of tertiary institution that is neither a university nor a polytechnic but displays the characteristics of both. Such an institution would offer degree and postgraduate programmes equivalent to those of a university but with the focus on the technical and the vocational. Research would be practically based rather than being the blue-sky research of universities. Courses would be taught in a currency-based or scholarship-based environment rather than in a research-based one. What this means is that teachers would have to be up to date with current knowledge in their areas rather than being actively involved in research activities. At the same time such institutions would have a heavy emphasis on sub-degree programmes in the technology areas and would be able to ensure that students had diploma to degree programmes available.