Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson officially became the Vice Chancellor of Otago this past 1 July. No longer does he need worry about homelessness along with his friend, Jacinda Ardern, who is similarly entrenched in gilded halls - in her case at Harvard, funded by America's billionaires. Robertson can now enjoy his $629,000 pay package, including a stately home thrown in for good measure. As a symbolic gesture of the total takeover of the University by the Labour Party, the Opposition Leader & former PM Hipkins attended his mate's swearing in ceremony. Asked what is his priority, predictably Robertson replied it was getting the University's finances on track. Not research, not teaching - its all about the cash. How's he going to do that?
Sources tell me Otago is lobbying furiously to stop Waikato getting NZ's third medical school. Why? Since it would create competition for Otago's own medical school and it may lose students. Its epidemiologists, like Prof. Michael Baker, may then struggle to fund campaigns arguing how Ardern-Hipkins-Robertson style Auckland lockdowns are optimal responses to pandemics. How ironic our former Finance Minister starts his job by lobbying to cut the number of doctors graduating in NZ by defunding Waikato. Never fear, Waikato has its own trump card. Its VC, Neil Quigley, was mysteriously renewed as Reserve Bank Chair by National, despite missing its inflation target year after year. Quigley is mates with Steven Joyce, who he hired as a consultant to support Waikato's case for a medical school. Joyce Advisory was paid nearly $1 million in consulting fees. Who will prevail in this Wellington lobbying battle in which the best outcome for the health of Kiwis plays second fiddle to empire-building by VCs? Can Robertson keep the (Woolworths-Countdown supermarket-type) duopoly Auckland & Otago hold over our medical schools? Will he successfully be able to cut the number of doctors graduating elsewhere in NZ to put his new fiefdom in Dunedin on a better financial footing? Or will the dark knight of Joyce prevail in the battle of having friends in high places in Wellington? Stay tuned for this sad drama worthy of a day-time Soap Opera.
Sources:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/former-labour-finance-minister-grant-robertson-settles-into-vice-chancellor-role-at-university-of-otago/ar-BB1pZoqx
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
Sources:
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/former-labour-finance-minister-grant-robertson-settles-into-vice-chancellor-role-at-university-of-otago/ar-BB1pZoqx
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
2 comments:
In response to the comment "duopoly[ies]"would be easier to apply to either Woolworths and/or Foodstuffs and seek entry 'into their Medical school".
It would be worth it, as during down time between subjects, one could work within a store as a check out person - that would assist the "in training medical student" to develop both their verbal communication and observation skill as would required of a Doctor of Medicine.
And those aspiring to be Surgeon's, could work in the butchery.
As we have already experienced verbal communications with a Doctor, over the phone, during our covid days - and as we now have an increasing demand on both a Medical Practice & our Hospital A&E's - I can see the young generation of Doctors pursuing this agenda - potentially using computer link systems. Think of the $$ savings, with having to do away with an established Medical Practice (building & associated costs), when it could be done from home!
That means they would not have to learn how to 'touch a patient', guess that would a subject saved from the curriculum. Plus the $$'s.
Doesn't Robertson realise Otago and Auckland are losing students to Australia already. Those who do not get into NZ Medical Schools largely because of the ethnic quotas. These students are potentially very good doctors lost to NZ --having got very good academic grades from school (yes, I realise that does not automatically mean they will be exceptional doctors).
It should be very easy for them to work how many students they may potentiall lose (I do not think there will be any) simply to keeping tabs on how many applicants miss places each year now. That would not take into account those who would like to study medicine but do not apply because they know their chances of acceptance are dramatically reduced because of the quotas.
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