1. Females now complete more doctorates than males.
2. Percentages of female academic staff at every level (Professors, Readers or Associate Professors, Senior Lecturers, Lecturers and Other Staff) are increasing and now almost match those of males in employment at our universities.
3. Pacific People are represented at less than their percentage presence in the total population but at about the percentages expected on the basis of prior doctoral completions.
4. Today Māori academic staff are represented at less than their percentage presence in the total population but at more than predicted on the basis of prior doctoral completions.
5. The percentage presence of Māori, Pacific People and Asians in academic roles continues to increase steadily, while the presence of Europeans is decreasing.
6. Asians earn more doctorates than predicted by their presence in the total population.
7. Asians are now represented in academic roles at about their percentage presence in the total population and at about the percentages expected on the basis of prior doctoral completions.
8. Europeans are represented at somewhat less than their presence in the total population and less than on the basis of prior doctoral completions.
9. Māori doctoral graduates are more likely than others to gain employment three years post study and they earn higher salaries on average than doctoral graduates as a group.
10. Remuneration outcomes for Māori and Pacific People who hold doctorates are significantly better than for doctoral graduates of other ethnicities.
The above findings must be interpreted in the light of Population Census information in which the Total Response method is used (Ministry of Social Development, 2026). In this method, totals for all ethnic groups can sum to more than 100% because respondents can identify with more than one ethnic group. Thus, comparisons between percentages across demographic groups employed at New Zealand universities and their respective percentage presence in the total population must be undertaken very carefully. In addition, in any given year between about 10% and 13% of academic staff are of unknown ethnicity, so that there is unavoidable uncertainty in the quoted statistics on employment by ethnicity.
The full report can be seen below.
Dr David Lillis trained in physics and mathematics at Victoria University and Curtin University in Perth, working as a teacher, researcher, statistician and lecturer for most of his career. He has published many articles and scientific papers, as well as a book on graphing and statistics.
7 comments:
Don't forget, PhDs all valued the same whether a 3-year thesis only from U Waikato or a 6-7-year PhD from North America (which includes two years of coursework and qualifying exams). An additional MA may or not be renumerated. A typical academic path for many Maori is a BA in Maori studies and then a 3-year PhD in Education or Maori Studies and then hired in, say, Sociology or somewhere else in the Humanities--and usually not at the bottom of the lectural scale.
To compare apples with apples it would be useful to know what subjects these doctorates are in. I expect an overabundance of interpretive dance topics somewhere in the mix.
Anon @ 7:02am: You say they are hired “usually not at the bottom of the lecturer scale”. Yes. But in fact, a number are hired directly into Administrative roles at much larger salaries, with no objective assessment ever in their careers, and with enormous power over others. They step straight into the Commissariat Class. And sadly, we have plenty of spineless, non-Maori colleagues who support this, right up to the level of the Provosts and VCs. The incompetent scholars are less worry to me than the spineless and incompetent Commissariat.
How many of these graduates will contribute anything useful to society especially the Maori ones with degrees in Whale Song, Waka design for Antarctica Voyages, Gravy Train Methodology ?
The percentages of Maori studying for PhDs in social sciences rather than in other subjects needs more comment. Is this perhaps connected with the way the Royal Society abandoned traditional Humanities and replaced its Humanities panel with what was de facto another Social Science panel? Was that a cynical way to get more Māoris Marsden Grants? Sure looks like it.
Noting some of the anonymous comments above - surely, those who choose to undertake doctorates go for subject matter that arises naturally from their undergraduate and or master's degree studies. I think that any doctorate, irrespective of subject or field, enhances the learning, the independence and skillsets of students. I do not subscribe to the idea that some fields are more or less valuable than others.
Having said that, it does seem to me that some fields are inherently more challenging than others. The expectations are higher and it is more difficult in such fields to make a significant contribution.
The leading universities around the world, including the top two universities in the United Kingdom and the Ivy League institutions in the US, do attract top students.
Indeed, the system in the US, involving two or more years of advanced coursework and very challenging examinations prior to beginning a research thesis, is very demanding, but also can prepare the student excellently for a productive research career.
Anon @ 8:56: agreed. And, further, the Commissariat has zero academic vision. Where are the academic leaders in NZ? Unis created Provosts a few years back, but what do they do for $300K? (Of course, salaries are never revealed though universities are taxpayer funded). A Provost should be a top researcher, writing books for Cambridge University Press in their sleep or major idea-driven 30+ page articles for the world's top journal. What is their definition of the best academic research and writing?
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