You can download the paper and presentation I presented from my uni homepage.

Below are photos from around Perth that were taken on the day I arrived and during the evenings.

Overall, Perth is a nice city to visit. Fremantle, in particular, is particularly beautiful. The city feels like a cross between Wanganui and Christchurch, and it was a lot quieter than Sydney.

The quoted reasons for withdrawing are:

OPSA president Meegan Cloughley proposed that OPSA withdraw, saying she did not think OPSA was not getting value for its annual subscription of $31,000.

She believes the NZUSA was not spending income wisely – overspending on administration costs and underspending on student activities and campaigns.

NZUSA had also been slow to respond to concerns or provide up-to-date information on expenditure and financial controls, she said.

The Otago University Students Association (OUSA) has also indicated it may withdraw from the NZUSA because of concerns over expenditure, financial accountability and value for money.

OUSA’s annual subscription is more than $100,000 – more than one quarter of NZUSA’ total annual income.

OUSA’s draft budget for next year does not include an allocation for NZUSA fees.

Two years ago when I was president of the Albany Students’ Association (ASA) I recommended that ASA withdraw for very similar reasons:

After serious concerns over the direction, focus and performance were raised of the national students’ association – NZUSA at the recent conference in Dunedin, the ASA Executive Committee is seeking feedback from students at Albany as to whether or not to withdraw from the organisation in protest.

“We are seeking direct feedback from our members, many of whom probably don’t realise that they pay a levy indirectly through the ASA budget to support an organisation in the opinion of the Executive is failing to focus on its core business of representing all students and is instead involved in internal politics between associations and spending too much time and money on small subgroups who pander up to the organisation,” says ASA President, Brad Heap.

“NZUSA have a vital part to play in NZ’s political realm and were paramount in achieving interest free student loans, they also provide training to association executives. However the question needs to be asked is can the $40k a year we put into this organisation be better spent? We could run our own training a lot cheaper and use the residual funds to increase funding to groups on campus. We believe in the ideals of NZUSA but if the organisation is not focussing on its core business should we continue to be involved?”

Satellite Issue 15, 2008

At the same time University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA) withdrew after less than year’s membership of the national body.

Is the national body in crises? Or has year after year of bad practices caused systematic problems in the organisation?

Two years ago were arguing for changes and it appears that nothing has changed. NZUSA has a vital role to play in advocating for students in New Zealand. But they need to get back to their core business of doing so.

While overall rankings are a rather poor indicator of how good a university is (particularly at undergraduate level) once the data is broken down by subject field one can see a better picture of the strengths in research areas of particular universities. As always the universities with a lot of funding and subsequently a very large size dominate the top of the lists.

Below is the breakdown of the 22 universities from Australia and New Zealand in the top 500.

Overall

Five out of the eight New Zealand universities make the top 500 worldwide, compared to 17 of Australia’s 38. However none of the New Zealand universities make the top 100 in any field or subject.

By Field

• Natural Sciences and Mathematics – Australian National University (40th)
• Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences – University of Melbourne (52 – 75), University of New South Wales (52 – 75)
• Life and Agriculture Science – University of Western Australia (34th), Australian National University (41st), University of Queensland (51 – 75), University of Sydney (76 – 100)
• Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy – University of Melbourne (41st), University of Queensland (51 – 75), University of Western Australia (51 – 75)
• Social Sciences – Australian Natural University (76 – 100), University of Sydney (76 – 100)

By subject

• Mathematics – Australian National University (77-100), University of New South Wales (77-100)
• Physics – Australian Natural University (44th)
• Chemistry – Monash University (51-75), University of Western Australia (76-100), University of New South Wales (76-100), University of Sydney (76-100)
• Computer Science – University of New South Wales (76-100)
• Economics / Business – University of Melbourne (78 – 100)

Until now I have been sitting on the fence in the dispute. Having been only studying at the university for six months I did not have enough information to form a complete opinion. However, given the actions of the Vice-Chancellor over the last few days I have now come down in full support of the union.

In the email and the accompanying video the Vice-Chancellor fails to address one of the major issues in the dispute, long term casual contracts for research staff. At the moment staff can be at the university for ten years or longer and never have a contract that provides them employment for more than a year. There are very few companies that I know that keep staff on perpetual fixed term contracts. Always having the threat of not having a job is not going to make a workforce very happy.

The actions of the Vice-Chancellor of UNSW over the last week in relation to the result bans have not sought to provide a quick resolution to the industrial dispute, instead they have sought to deliberately make it worse. Locking senior academics out of the university is a really petty move and will only cause the ill feeling between the academic staff and the university administration to increase.

If UNSW really want this dispute to go away they need to lift their lockout of staff and they need to focus on the issues that really matter rather than spinning amateur videos to students to try and win hearts and minds. The problem with trying to win hearts and minds is students are very thicked skinned and we can see right through the bullshit.

P.S. Next time you make a video to distribute to students from the Vice-Chancellor at least make sure the website address is right. myunsw.edu.au does not exist. It is my.unsw.edu.au

Dear students

You would be aware of the National Tertiary Education Union bans on the transmission of exam results and student assessment for semester one.

While only a small percentage of staff is taking part in this industrial action, we are concerned about the impact this action is having on students who have not yet received their results and we are working to minimize any disruption. I would appreciate you taking the time to watch this two minute video so I can let you know what measures the University has put in place.  I’ve also taken the opportunity to give you all a brief background on some of the issues involved in this dispute.

Yours sincerely

Professor Fred Hilmer
President and Vice-Chancellor

The biggest problem with refusing to release marks is that the main impact of this action will affect students far more than it effects the university. This step has seen students become political prawns in a petty dispute. While I support the right for members of the union to strike, and I certainly believe in their cause I do not see how bringing students into the crossfire is going to get the staff onside with anyone. However, I believe the actions in response by University management will only seek to inflame the situation further. Tit for tat is never a good way to resolve conflict.

If the staff really wanted to force the university’s hand they would place a ban on submitting papers and attending conferences. This would see a far bigger impact on the university’s reputation, standing and income. I do not believe that the NTEU would even consider this course of action because more than any lost income the action would directly affect the standing of its own members within the global academic community. But surely that is what industrial action is about, standing up for what you believe in, putting your reputation and standing on the line? Rather than using students as cheap political ammo the NTEU should focus on where it hurts, research output.

This is a Pioneer Robot autonomously driving and navigating in my office. I programmed the A* search of the map of the environment and the waypoint generator which is then passed to an autonomoy controller (not programmed by me) which moves the robot.

Over the last thirty years, our educational institutions have created a $2.3 billion per annum export education industry – now the fifth largest export earner in the country. We can surely do it again with research.

So what would I do to bring about this change?

I would invest in education, valuing our teachers – from pre-school to professors – as the professionals they truly are. I would focus on supporting our most able students to continue on to postgraduate study and research careers, rather than terminating the very scholarships that keep our best doctoral students in New Zealand, as the government has recently done.

The removal of the highest value scholarships for PhD students by the incoming National government was an incredibly silly thing to do.

Look at the number and value of scholarships available to Australians and New Zealanders provided by the Australian Government. Look at the way they are offering massive incentives to our young doctors to move to the lucky country. It is little wonder we have such a big brain drain when our smartest are being snatched by our neighbour. And it will require more than a rugby team and national pride to keep them here.

Sadly New Zealand has been reducing its investment in the tertiary education of each student for 20 years, choosing instead to directly support students, most recently with interest free loans. This must inevitably compromise the quality of education and research at a time when other countries are investing heavily in these areas.

Interest free student loans are a good thing for supporting students and giving them opportunities they would have been unable to otherwise afford. However, as I blogged a few days ago there needs to be much tighter controls on who is allowed at university to reduce wasteful spending on those who are never going to complete their degree.

I would concentrate our research investment on “blue skies” projects, the kind that will create radical innovation, and with it undreamt-of opportunities.

After all, the single most important technology in New Zealand’s history, refrigeration, came out not because of attempts to preserve dairy and meat products so they could be exported – though that was what it achieved – but rather from fundamental university research on the thermodynamics of expanding gases.

At the moment a lot of new products come out of private enterprise in New Zealand. Most of these products are not mainstream consumer products either but rather for specialised industry. However, little of these products are information sciences based, instead they are physical products. Investing in information sciences based research at university and CRI level makes sense. If we want to succeed in the knowledge economy we must first join it (by getting into the top half and higher of the OECD averages) then we must actively lead the way in new ventures in the economy and not just follow what others are doing. How about getting past web 2.0 and start thinking about cloud 3.0?

From the Stuff.co.nz article:

Financially stressed universities have revealed they will significantly increase the number of students who are shown the door, saying they only want “motivated students”.

The university has introduced a policy in which any student whose grade point average is less than 1.5, or who has not passed half or more of their courses will have their progress automatically reviewed. Grade point averages are ranked up to nine.

Student associations were concerned that toughening up admission requirements went against New Zealanders’ sense of fairness and their sentiment that people should be given a “fair go”.

Students are already given a fair go. They are given a fair go through doing well in the exams before getting into university or in their first semester. If they do not take their fair go to do well in their exams through study then they should be shown the door. If they are not then the education system in New Zealand becomes nothing more than people paying for the piece of paper they get after three years and not earning it through hard work. This cheapens the quality, value and prestige of the institute so good on them for taking a tough stance.

There is a big problem with attitude amongst students at New Zealand universities many students have the attitude that C’s get degrees. At the moment that is true. But it shouldn’t be. Passing with a GPA of 1.5 is hardly passing – it is the equivalent of 4 C- and 4 C grades. A pass yes. Success no. At a minimum to get into post-graduate study you need a GPA of 6.0 (B+ average). To pass a degree you should have to maintain an average of 3.0 (C+) throughout your study. This would allow you to do bad on those papers you are naturally not good at, but at the same time provide enough of a challenge for you to work hard at those that you are good at.

Everyone should be given a chance to get into university and do their best. But university is not for everyone and once you have been given your fair go and have not succeeded you should give up your space for the next person – this is a fair system.

Earlier today I received my final grades for my research project and three papers from Semester Two. I scored an A+ grade in all three papers and the project. I am absolutely delighted with the marks and my overall performance this year. In total, for both semesters, I scored 7 A+ grades and 1 A grade. This is by far my best ever set of marks and as a result I have been accepted into a PhD programme at The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia beginning early next year.

In time I will blog about some of the challenges I have faced this year (it has not been all plain sailing), as well as this I am working on uploading some of my past assignments to the site (some with and without source code – and minor modifications). I never imagined I would progress so far in academia and now I feel like the journey has only just begun.

The brief for my final assignment is:

Your task is to write any application you like. The are no restrictions on what your application can do but it should show of the capabilities of the platform and be well written.

Marks will be awarded for interesting applications that make good use of the Android platform.

Make sure your application works on the emulator but I will also test it on a real device.

For this assignment I decided to create a Blog Reader that reads the RSS XML feeds off blogs to display them in a Android Application.
I have spent around three days coding this assignment. I will not release the code until after the assignment has been marked, however here are some screen shots of the work

My Application Sitting in the Android Application Menu on my phone

The applications home screen

Adding a new blog feed into the application

Viewing a list of blogs

Removing a blog feed

Viewing a list of blog posts

Viewing list of blog posts

Viewing single post