UTas Press 2015-16

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The union representing University of Tasmania staff is disappointed the Vice-Chancellor has racked up more than $50,000 travelling the globe in style in less than six months. ................ Leaked travel records, obtained by the ABC, show Professor Peter Rathjen and his wife travelled to North Carolina, New York and Paris, taking economy, business and first class flights between September and early October last year. ................ The couple spent three nights at the Sofitel in New York during the trip at a cost to the university of more than $1,100 a night. ................ At a time of high workloads and limited resources, it's disappointing ... that university senior management seem to be spending very high amounts on travel. National Tertiary Education Union state secretary Kelvin Michael The total cost of the trip came to more than $37,000, with the university recorded as footing the bill. ................ The Vice-Chancellor also spent Christmas and New Year in Cancun, Mexico. ................ Again the $15,000 trip was charged to the university. ................ The National Tertiary Education Union state secretary Kelvin Michael was not impressed ................ Click here to read the full story

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THE University of Tasmania hit a pivotal moment one year ago when its leaders posed a simple question at a retreat. ....... "Whose responsibility is it to get Tasmanians into higher education?" the leaders asked themselves. ....... Too few Tasmanians go on to tertiary education, and vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen says it's about 15,000 too few, compared with South Australia. ....... "We'd never thought maybe it's our job to go out and say 'these kids need to get an education and we've got to find out how to give them one'," Professor Rathjen said. ....... "We decided it was our job - we're the only university here and we need to do something about it." ....... Professor Rathjen said for the first time, the university's main focus was on tackling Tasmania's tertiary education rates. ....... He believes there are 35,000 people in Tasmania who would be engaged in tertiary education if they lived in another state. ....... Key to his plan is normalising university education by putting it front and centre of each Tasmanian city, and attracting students through new associate degrees. ....... The short, intensive degrees are designed to make higher education cheaper and more practical. ....... See your ad here "We will get costs of degrees down and strengthen regional campuses to ensure students can study from home," he said. ....... "No one else in Australia has ever done this." ....... His other goal is to make Tasmanians understand why university is important. ....... "For us it's obvious, for them it's not," he said. ....... "We want it so that people come in, and then they can take a decision to get the associate degree, or carry the credit into a bachelor program at the university." ....... The degrees would run for 40 weeks a year instead of 26 weeks, and involve industry placements. ....... "After a year they'll see the world differently and will be a different person," he said. ....... "After a few years people will enrol straight into bachelor degrees, but we've got to take the first step." ....... A pilot program could be up and running by the end of the year, or early 2017. ....... "A two-year degree in agribusiness can take you straight out and into running your farm better, or it could lead you to a degree in agriculture or business or science," Professor Rathjen said. ...... Click here to read more and the comments the story drew

114 Comments on this story March 1 2016||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


VICE-CHANCELLOR DUMPS ON LAUNCESTON

UTAS Vice-Chancellor, Peter Rathjen, has conceded there had been substantial staff cuts in Launceston and the wholesale removal of courses, services and functions to Hobart. ................ Before a packed lecture theatre at a recent Launceston campus ‘roadshow’ last Tuesday he said UTAS had “cross-subsidised” the north by “$750 million” since University amalgamation and this justified the cuts. ................ The implication was clear. Launceston is a financial burden on the University and in effect Launceston should feel grateful for any university presence at all. ................ This sort of pernicious suggestion has to be scrutinized carefully. All institutions engage in ‘cross-subsidisation’ but it depends on how you calculate this and what you value. ................ Most University revenue is generated from teaching students and from research grants. It covers the essential academic salaries that drive the revenue base and that pays for all the administrative staff and functions. ................ Does that mean “unprofitable” administration - including the Vice-Chancellor - is cross-subsidised by teaching and research? Does that mean the administration is a “financial burden”, a “parasite” on the body of the University? ................ It is dangerous and misleading to trot out the cross-subsidisation argument because it highlights what you like and what you loath. And reveals hidden blame and criticism. ................ For instance, Medicine is a vital program of State significance but it is expensive and heavily subsidised. But no-one mentions the cross-subsidisation, nor should they. ................ In Launceston the cross-subsidisation argument is being used to swell the Hobart campus and justify downgrading the northern campus to a minor ‘branch office’ of the ‘real’ university. That is how it appears. ................ And that is how it is seen in Hobart. ................ The proposal to shift the northern campus to Inveresk, announced with much fanfare, conceals the reality of what is happening to university education in the north. They bring a bit of bling and beads, and think the ‘natives’ will not notice. ................ Far from a ‘burden’ Launceston in the history of campus amalgamation tells a different story. In 1991 the Dawkins reforms forced UTAS to seek amalgamation with the TSIT as UTAS was simply too small to remain viable in the new national university environment. ................ Then Launceston was vital to the success of UTAS. ................ Now the narrative has changed. ................ Now it is an economic ‘burden’ and we should feel grateful for the promise of a city campus. ................ See more at: http://www.tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/article/vice-chancellor-dumps-on-launceston#sthash.naTpoJZP.dpuf

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