Archive

Exec stupid but manage to finalise Budget, somehow

Posted 10:05pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by Julia Hollingsworth

OUSA has finalised their 2011 Budget, which will be voted on by online referendum early next month. The proposed Budget was carried unanimously by an eleven-strong Exec amidst concerns about the constitutional changes made earlier in the year.  The Exec voted against the contentious VSM Read more...

Lonely Planet Loves Us

Posted 10:03pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by Staff Reporter

The newest edition of heavyweight travel guide Lonely Planet’s New Zealand edition has heaped praise on most of the country, and Dunedin didn’t miss out. The guide practically gushed when it reached our University town, writing that Dunedin has been "Long credited as New Zealand's indie-music Read more...

Next Top Cock-up

Posted 10:02pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by Gregor Whyte

The judging of the OUSA Next Top Flat competition had to be postponed from Friday of last week to this Monday, after OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan inexplicably forgot to invite the judges to attend. The cock-up, which inconvenienced Critic for one, comes after Geoghegan won re-election to the Read more...

Psychology Building Opened

Posted 10:01pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by Teuila Fuatai

The new University of Otago Psychology Department building was officially opened last Tuesday. Named after influential American psychologist William James, the $25-million, six-level complex features a new Clinical Psychology centre, and an innovative roof garden where rainwater is recycled. Read more...

Otago Graduates Win Major Film Award

Posted 9:57pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by Calida Smylie

University of Otago graduates Guy Ryan and Nick Holmes have won the Platinum Best Film Award at the 2010 Colorado International Film Festival. The pair produced the winning documentary Carving the Future in 2009, during the final year of their Masters in Science Communication degrees. Read more...

Execrable - 24

Posted 9:56pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by Julia Hollingsworth

Last week’s Budget meeting was a demoralising, almost four-hour-long process that sapped Critic’s will to live. Much of the meeting was taken up with tediously assessing submissions and considering the disputed Budget lines. After all the blabbing a few meetings ago about a referendum to Read more...

Bouncing off the Halls - 24

Posted 9:54pm Sunday 26th September 2010 by

The flat hunt is on in the domain of the first-years, opening them up to a whole world of new shenanigans.  A flat-to-be of five was sorting out their bond money one night and realised that they could make a bit more money if they put some on the tennis, so they decided to put it all on Read more...

OUSA Women’s Week

Posted 5:49am Monday 13th September 2010 by Calida Smylie

OUSA Women's Week is being held this week, and will feature a number of events which highlight issues facing women in New Zealand. The main event of the week is a seminar being held today at Commerce 2.07 from 3-6pm where Lesley Elliot, the mother of murdered University of Otago student Sophie Read more...

NZUSA taking it from all angles. Flak, that is.

Posted 5:48am Monday 13th September 2010 by Anthony Riseley

The Otago Polytechnic Student’s Association has acted on its threats to withdraw from the New Zealand University Students Association (NZUSA), calling for a referendum of its members to decide the issue of whether or not to remain part of the national body. OPSA President Meegan Cloughley Read more...

OUSA plans thinly-disguised looting party

Posted 5:47am Monday 13th September 2010 by

A number of initiatives have been kicked off by OUSA last week in the wake of the devastating earthquake that rocked Christchurch last weekend. Otago’s Christchurch campus was closed all of last week while a significant clean up took place. No structural damage was reported to the Read more...

The real scandal: Inept student leader still thinks coffee at 1980s prices!

Posted 5:44am Monday 13th September 2010 by Julia Hollingsworth

OUSA is considering withdrawing from the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA), but NZUSA maintains membership is worthwhile. OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan says the main reason OUSA is considering withdrawing from NZUSA is a lack of value for money. “For the amount we Read more...

OUSA bad at long distance

Posted 5:40am Monday 13th September 2010 by Julia Hollingsworth

The recent OUSA election, and the withdrawal of the Wellington-based Postgrad candidate under controversial circumstance, has raised questions about the quality of support OUSA gives to distance and satellite students. Satellite students study at campuses outside Dunedin, while distance Read more...

If a book falls in an empty library …

Posted 5:25am Monday 13th September 2010 by

The University of Canterbury was hard hit by the earthquake that rocked Canterbury on September 4. Two weeks of class have been canceled, and significant damage to University buildings has been reported.   Some structures have visible cracks, a chimney fell off the Staff Club, there Read more...

University Announces Award Recipients

Posted 5:24am Monday 13th September 2010 by Julia Hollingsworth

Three University of Otago researchers have been named the recipients of the University’s Early Career Awards for Distinction in Research. The awards, worth $5000 each, recognise academics with outstanding research achievements early in their careers.    The three recipients were Read more...

Otago Tops New Rankings

Posted 4:58am Monday 13th September 2010 by Staff Reporter

The University of Otago has topped a new ranking table of teaching and learning performance in the New Zealand tertiary sector, with the Otago Polytechnic also performing well. The rankings, released by the Tertiary Education Commission, aim to provide a national snapshot of institution and Read more...

Otago to run Science Academy

Posted 4:56am Monday 13th September 2010 by Teuila Fuatai

The Government is providing almost $600 000 towards the establishment of a University of Otago Science Academy. Initially a two-year pilot scheme is to be implemented, involving students and teachers from secondary schools without major science laboratory facilities. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Read more...

Teaching Awards

Posted 4:55am Monday 13th September 2010 by Gregor Whyte

Nominations for the annual OUSA Teaching Awards open today. The awards have been running for nine years, and honour the best teaching staff at the University of Otago as nominated by students. This year, in addition to the teaching excellence Top Ten awards, there will be two specific awards. Read more...

NZ Universities Slip

Posted 4:53am Monday 13th September 2010 by Gregor Whyte

New Zealand’s universities have fallen in the latest major world university rankings to be released. The QS World University Rankings were unkind to almost all New Zealand’s top institutions, with the University of Otago falling ten places from 125 last year to 135 this time around. Read more...

Execrable - 23

Posted 4:09am Monday 13th September 2010 by Julia Hollingsworth

Last week’s Exec meeting was a very brief and quiet affair, quite in contrast to the five-hour Budget-setting experience of a fortnight previous. The meeting took barely over half an hour, possibly a record for the gabber-mouth Exec. Victoria Nicholson briefly presented the Elections 2011 Read more...

Batten down the hatches

Posted 2:06am Monday 6th September 2010 by

The Otago Polytechnic (OPT) will have to start turning back potential students after it was unable to secure the amount of Government funded positions it had hoped for. The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) and the National Government are trying to cut back on the $2.5 billion annually put Read more...