Students ‘not as radical’ now

Press, 22 December 1987, Page 3

Students ‘not as radical’ now

Students are not as radical as they used to be, says the outgoing president of the Canterbury University Students’ Association, Peter Fenton.

Increased competition and academic pressure meant students had less time for issues and debates. They had first of all to protect and improve their own conditions, he said. Students must be paid a living wage, similar to the unemployment benefit, Mr Fenton believes. “At the moment, the Government is not sending the right signals to people to encourage them to pursue their education,” he said. The students’ association had been involved in making submissions to the Government’s education reviews, he said. The student march before the election had 3000 students and members of the public opposing any extention of user-pays to education. “User-pays” was now being promoted in different forms — the private university in Auckland, and fee-paying overseas students recommended by the Market Development Board, he said. New Zealand university education had traditionally been based on merit. “If you were good enough you were accepted. Now, if you can pay $20,000, you can move to Auckland and do commerce.” If more students were to attend Canterbury University, then the Govern-

ment must allocate more money for building, he said. Some students academically qualified to undertake subjects such as accounting, law and economics, could not do so because student numbers had been limited. For Peter Fenton, limitation of entry has been one of the lows of the year. He is now confident that Canterbury University has done all it can to respond to the problem. Lecturing positions in some departments had been disestablished, and the council had considered all limitation requests very carefully. Mr Fenton says the president’s job is full-time. He sits on 18 university committees, being a member of the national student executive, and administering the Canterbury Students’ Association building. Mr Fenton moves on next year to a job with a Christchurch law firm.