WELLINGTON. Simmering opposition to user-pays higher education has boiled over with a week-long student sit-in at Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand's southernmost university, late last month.
Most universities and polytechnics are still setting higher tuition fees to offset government funding cuts. With a general election looming, students are threatening that the Otago sit-in is only the start of a high-profile campaign on policy.
Otago students occupied the registry in protest at anticipated fee increases. But when university chancellor Judith Medlicott issued a trespass order against student leader Jim Anderton it provoked strong academic reaction.
A meeting of about 300 out of 2,330 general and academic staff passed a vote of no confidence in vice chancellor Graeme Fogelberg and the chancellor. They also backed freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and legitimate protest.
Later, a march by about 400 academics, originally planned in support of their pay claim, turned into a protest at management style.
The university is budgeting for a NZ$4 million (Pounds 2 million) deficit this year, a NZ$2.5 million cut in government funding next year, and a possible staff salary rise.
Otago has a differential fee structure reflecting the cost of courses, with dentistry fees the highest at about NZ$17,000 and arts and commerce the lowest at about NZ$1,500.
The students have now won an assurance that the base fee, which applies to about 75 per cent of students, would not go higher than NZ$2,000. The university council and students also issued a joint statement condemning the government's education policies.
The protests are symptomatic of widespread opposition to these policies. That opposition has led to the establishment of a pressure group, the Public Tertiary Education Coalition, which, uniquely, is supported by management, staff and student national associations.
The main cause of discontent is the ongoing funding cuts, put at 10 per cent across the sector for the past six years, and set to continue at a rate of 1 per cent per student annually until 1999. The problem has been compounded by inflation.
To supplement income, fees in polytechnics and universities have risen on average by 15 per cent. Auckland University has frozen all new staff appointments to avoid a budget deficit. Student fees there, which rose by 15 per cent this year to NZ$2,128, look set to rise by about 15 to 20 per cent next year.
Northland Polytechnic fees are to rise by 20 per cent, or between NZ$250 and NZ$800, prompting students there to follow the Otago example and stage a campus sit-in.
Some institutions have managed the process without incident. Canterbury University has limited its increase to 9 per cent, or NZ$200, giving a standard fee for all courses of NZ$2,400, while the Christchurch College of Education is sticking with this year's fees.