Sabbatical leave expensive

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 7

Sabbatical leave expensive

Some university lecturers ; are postponing sabbatical (leave, or taking shorter | leave, because they cannot tafford to live overseas. I The chairman of the Canterbury branch of the Association of University Teachers (Professor B. A. Woods) said the university council helped lecturers with their travelling costs, but this almost inevitably did not cover expenses. Teaching staff at the University of Canterbury were entitled to 300 days sabbati- ’ cal leave every six years. Unless lecturers could get financial support from the overseas universities where they would spend their leave, they could be “out of pocket.” Professor Woods said the provision for sabbatical leave had always been good, but it had been overtaken by such factors as inflation and currency exchange rates. More lecturers were having to put off sabbatical leave because of the expense of maintaining their families overseas, he said. Others were taking shorter leave, which might not be as effective. The national president of the Association of University Teachers (Dr B. S. Gustafson) was reported as saying in Auckland recently

that it was becoming prohibitive for New Zealand academics to take leave anywhere in North America or Europe without a lot of financial help. Peopie once took their families to Britain for the year, said Dr Gustafson, but the cost of living in Britain meant this was no longer possible for many families. Lecturers were taking shorter sabbaticals and leaving their families behind.