Do we know how much more the government would need to hand out to stop the job cuts?
I’m sure someone has done the maths, but I know some of the unis just need their debt ceiling extended. It would kick the can down the road, but better than axing staff/programmes which will do years of damage.
Did the universities use to be publicly owned? Perhaps a Te Pūkenga-style arrangement might do the trick.
Granted we haven’t really seen yet how that arrangement goes, and so far it’s not looking promising…
I thought the universities were still government owned? I can’t seem to search up anything that says one way or the other.
Your suggestion seems to have existed for quite some time in the past, as the University of New Zealand from 1874 to 1961: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Zealand
Hmm, I think you’re right. This page unequivocally identifies them as crown entities, autonomous yet TEC-funded. I think it was the autonomy that threw me off.
Thanks for finding that, yes this is how I remember them working. Sort of like a state owned enterprise, the operate independently of central government but happen to be owned by the government.
I thought the universities were still government owned?
This is a really good question. My understanding is they are self-owning (thus “autonomous”), but because they are incorporated using a special legal structure just for them - rather than being incorporated as a company or trust - this gives them special status as a “Crown entity”. It’s vaguely analogous to the special legal structure that iwi use to incorporate, for purposes of receiving and managing assets received as Treaty of Waitangi settlements. The iwi aren’t state-owned, but in a sense they are a special sort of “Crown entity”. I’m not an expert of any of this stuff, just a longtime observer, so I’d love to be corrected by someone who is.
Interesting!
