The New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (NZVCC) Annual Report for 2007 was published last week, and among the key points presented was a lack of progress made in bringing the Government’s university resourcing to a more competitive international level.

The report showed that there was growth in student numbers since 2006 at all universities but Lincoln, increasing the total number of enrolled university students from 169,161 to 173,467. Government funding also saw a rise of approximately $43 million, with nearly $1 billion (excluding Adult and Community Education) granted to universities.

The Committee is comprised of Vice- Chancellors from each of the country’s eight universities, including Victoria’s Vice- Chancellor Pat Walsh, and is chaired by Roy Sharp from Canterbury University.

In the report, Sharp expressed concerns about the government’s continuing scheme of capped funding for universities that provided largely open entry for students and warned that the country’s university system was set to return to the 1990s when “significant numbers of unfunded student places was the norm.”

“Unanticipated growth in student numbers at three universities during the year raised the issue of how those students would be funded in subsequent years,” he said.

“It’s the universities [in the tertiary education system] where the money is really needed and where … investment will produce the best results.”