NZUSA commissions report. Discovers students are poor. Everyone shocked.

Posted 3:30am Tuesday 8th March 2011

Critic finally got around to reading the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations’ (NZUSA) report on student income and expenditure, imaginatively titled “Income & Expenditure Survey 2010 – Summary of key findings”. The report is based on a Colmar Brunton survey of approximately 2850 students Read more...

New Vice-Chancellor Announced

Posted 4:44am Monday 28th February 2011

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne is to replace Sir Professor David Skegg as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago. Professor Hayne, a noted psychology researcher, will become the first female Vice-Chancellor of a New Zealand university when she takes over the role in July. Read more...

Alcohol Reform Bill

Posted 4:37am Monday 28th February 2011

The Alcohol Reform Bill has entered the Select Committee phase, with over 650 written submissions to the Justice and Electoral Committee. The Bill is the legislative response to the Law Commission report, Alcohol in our Lives: Curbing the Harm. It seeks to significantly amend the law governing the Read more...

Otago Likely to Benefit from Funding Increase

Posted 10:39pm Sunday 17th October 2010

The University of Otago is likely to gain about $5.4 milllion and around 280 domestic Equivalent Full Time Student places, after the Government announced increased funding for university places, the Otago Daily Times reports. The fresh funding is intended to cover a ‘blip’ in the Read more...

NZUSA Conference fun for everyone, except OUSA that is

Posted 1:33am Tuesday 12th October 2010

The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) conference has ended with OUSA unable to secure enough votes to amend the notice period required to withdraw from the body. OUSA attended the last two days of the four-day conference, participating in only a single workshop before voting Read more...

VSM a goer, student associations rush to embezzle money before it runs out

Posted 10:53pm Monday 11th October 2010

VSM looks virtually certain to be introduced after the Education Select Committee recommended the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill be passed into law with only minor changes. The Act Party Bill is almost guaranteed to become law after the National Government indicated it Read more...

University of Otago Top Dog

Posted 9:54pm Monday 11th October 2010

The University of Otago recorded the highest surplus of any university in New Zealand last year, posting a healthy $31.1 million surplus when figures were released by the Tertiary Education Commission. The University of Auckland was second, posting an operating surplus of $28.5 million. Read more...

Bet you wished you’d studied harder now.

Posted 9:20pm Monday 11th October 2010

Thousands of tertiary students around New Zealand will unexpectedly have their access to student loans cut off after it was discovered that the legislation changes introduced this year will take into account 2009 academic results. The law changes, introduced in the 2010 Budget, mean that Read more...

OUSA single-handedly eases Cantab plight

Posted 10:13pm Sunday 26th September 2010

The OUSA rescue mission to the earthquake-stricken Canterbury region was a roaring success, OUSA told Critic, with OUSA saying that Christchurch residents had told OUSA how wonderful it was that OUSA had taken time out of their busy schedule to bring them some free baked beans and half a bottle of Read more...

Otago Student’s Ezine Wins Literary Award

Posted 10:08pm Sunday 26th September 2010

Fourth-year University of Otago student Marie Hodgkinson has won a major New Zealand literary award for her online publication Semaphore Magazine. Semaphore won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Production/Publication, and narrowly missed out on the award for Best Collected Work. The Sir Read more...