Students at the University of Auckland took a hammer to an ice sculpture of Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce last Wednesday in an effort to draw attention to rising course fees.

The Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA) provided the frozen likeness of the Minister, and invited the student who came forward with the highest fees to smash it.

AUSA President Arena Williams said the stunt was a metaphor for the need for university fees to be frozen, and a warning that future generations would need to “pick up the pieces” of what she described as under-investment in tertiary education by the Government.

The students’ association’s vice president Dan Haines suggested that although decisions made by the University played a part in fees having risen 13 per cent since 2007, the phenomenon is a result of policy-making at a national level.

“Some of the blame for fee increases must lie with the institutions, but the real problem lies in a short-sighted economic plan,” he said.

About 50 students turned out to witness the stunt.