The Wire with Caeden

The University Advisory Group headed up by Sir Peter Gluckman made more than 60 recommendations to improve the fragmentation, poor governance and funding woes of the university sector. Sitting above them all was a ‘highest priority’ call to set up a standalone government agency to administer separate strategy and funding for universities. The Government has said no.

Producer Sanat spoke to the Tertiary Education Union’s spokesperson Sandra Grey about the Government’s response to this report and whether it will change the Tertiary Education Sector fundamentally to respond to the persistent challenges that have affected New Zealand’s Universities.  

This week, more than 36,000 Nurses Organisation members will be going on strike following months of failed negotiations with Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand.

The ongoing concerns amongst striking nurses are nurse wages and understaffing in hospitals across Aotearoa.

Health Minister Simeon Brown directly condemned NZNO’s decision to organise this strikes this week, saying that the strikes would delay more than 13,000 elective surgeries and appointments. However, NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku and other nurses joining the strike said that the health minister’s comments were out of touch with the situation on the ground for nurses, that understaffing was putting both nurse and patient health at risk and that both Simeon Brown and Health NZ had neglected nurse needs and their calls for proportionate wage increases for some time.

Wednesday Wire Host Oto spike to Nuku about this topic.

Lately, our government, civil society organisations and UN bodies have all condemned the range of human rights abuses Israel is currently committing against the Palestinian population. However, universities in New Zealand, like in many other parts of the world, have made an intentional decision to remain neutral in their position on Gaza, despite public sentiment shifting on this issue. 

This stance of international neutrality can be traced back to a 1967 study known as the Kalven report. But was this report ever relevant? And should it still apply today? 

To discuss this, as well as what Universities could potentially do to act against Israel, Producer Max spoke to Dr Ritesh Shah, a senior lecturer of comparative and international education and the co-director of the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Study at the University of Auckland.

If you'd like to sign this open letter you can find it here.

The Tawaki Project based at the University of Otago and driven by the mahi of international researchers, has taken a deep-dive into the population genetics of three Aotearoa crested penguin species – tawaki/Fiordland penguins, erect-crested penguins, and Eastern rockhopper penguins.

Findings reveal how genetic health and marine habitat changes have impacted these species.

For this week’s Green Desk, Host Sara spoke with co-leader of the project, Dr Thomas Mattern about what the study learned about these penguin populations, starting with a general overview of the research