Early Announcement Sought On University Salaries

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31151, 30 August 1966, Page 12

Early Announcement Sought On University Salaries

“This Is the time of year when the very expensive process of university staff recruiting is at its peak, as may be seen from a casual glance at advertisements in the Saturday papers,” said Dr. D. G. Elms, secretary of the Canterbury branch of the Association of University Teachers.

“At the moment very fierce world-wide competition exists for university staff. In their attempts to recruit new staff New Zealand universities are at a grave disadvantage in that the salary scales they can advertise are so very much lower than those offered by, say, Australian universities in adjacent advertisements. “New Zealand salaries are, of course, under review; but it seems to the A.U.T. to be of first importance that speculation should be ended and that any new salary scales should be announced as soon as possible, while the current round of negotiations for staff recruitment is still taking place,” he said.

“It is also feared that Australian university staff will soon have yet another salary increase, which could only lead to New Zealand universities falling even further behind in their efforts to attract staff.

“Of course, staff of a sort could always be obtained, but the A.U.T. is anxious that the present high standard of university teaching should be maintained in this country

and that academic vacancies should be filled by men of real worth,” said Dr. Elms. “The shortage of university staff is a problem which has dogged New Zealand universities for over 10 years. “In one sector of spending on university education the Government has not skimped. The new buildings and facilities at Ham are generally first

class. Why, then, is the Government prepared to be lavish with its building programme but penny-pinching with regard to staffing?” asked Dr. Elms. “This imbalance between ■ the finance available for building construction and that for staff recruitment is surely in both the short and the long run a false economy.”