Aucklanders talk about their views on education in Auckland.
Auckland consistently ranks highly in lists of the world's best cities but is never number one. So what would it take to turn Auckland into a first-class city? This week the Herald begins a 10-day series examining some of the biggest hurdles Auckland faces, from housing and transport to entertainment and education. We look at what we are doing, what we need to do, and why Auckland's success matters to the rest of the country. In part three of the series we look at education.
With three Universities in the all-important world rankings, a burgeoning international student market and recent recognition as a top "student city", Auckland has an excellent reputation for higher education.
This year University of Auckland had 13 of its subjects ranked in the top 50 in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds, while AUT gained a top-50 number for the first time, with its Art and Design programme listed at 42nd.
However, while the universities are improving, others are doing so faster, meaning our international standing is at risk. University of Auckland has fallen from 65 to 92 in recent years, while AUT, our newest university, dropped from top 400 to top 500. Massey University, at Albany, also fell slightly last year to 346.
Chief executive of Universities New Zealand Chris Whelan said unfortunately, universities were increasingly dependent on the rankings to show how good they were against international competitors.
"They are a easy way to indicate we have the best teachers, the best researchers and we want the best students," Mr Whelan said. "They are hugely important in attracting and retaining staff."
Mr Whelan said it was in our national interest to make sure we were competitive as higher-ranked universities generated more economic activity, produced more knowledge and more skilled graduates, but without more funding it was impossible to keep up.
Other countries, such as Singapore, had recently thrown money at their universities in order to drive growth and attract top academics, paying salaries that New Zealand cannot afford. However even closer to home, in Australia, per-student expenditure was higher by 30 percent, Mr Whelan said.
The investment appears to pay off - Melbourne alone has seven universities in the QS rankings, one of the reasons it has an extremely high place - second - as one of the top student cities in the world. Auckland came 22nd on the QS Best Student Cities 2015.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said Australia has previously been able to afford more than New Zealand, but their rankings had fallen recently as well, as more new players entered the university market.
He said the government had increased funding for both AUT and Auckland by around 40 percent in the past seven years, "good progress" given tight fiscal conditions.
Mr Joyce some very good things were happening in Auckland, including at AUT where the South Auckland campus was growing, and which also has the fastest-growing Maori and Pasifika numbers.
Vice-Chancellor Derek McCormack said the university had made it an explicit goal, and doesn't turn students away because they don't have University Entrance, instead offering bridging courses to help those who fell short get up to speed.
"It's an emerging market and we decided early on we had to be attractive to the emerging market," Professor McCormack says ."Maori and Pasifika are more interested in University and we want to be their university of choice."
Prof McCormack says, however, that he thinks Auckland needs to make more of its high-class education facilities, and remember how important students - especially international students - were to the economy.
"If students come from overseas and enjoy it then when they go home, they have a feeling for New Zealand which can turn into something more - a business connection or a holiday or perhaps in turn they send their children here to study."
He believed we needed to capatalise on our international appeal noted in the Best Student Cities list.
The rankings give scores for student mix, desirability, employer activity and affordability.
While Auckland ranked very highly for "student mix" because of its diverse, tolerant population it fell down on matters like affordability .
Prof McCormack said a focus on how to make the city more student-friendly was needed, alongside some better, cheaper accommodation close to the universities.
Raising the profile of the city's so-called "Learning Quarter" would help. The Quarter encompasses Albert Park, The University of Auckland, AUT University, Auckland Art Gallery, the city library and surrounding streets and neighbourhoods. Options like cheaper transport could also be looked, he said.
Auckland University third-year law student Adeleina Loto-Meleisea agreed. Many students from south or north Auckland had to travel a long way to get into the city, which could be difficult and expensive particularly with public transport, she said.
"If I was studying until midnight and caught the trains, I wouldn't get home until 1.30am and would have to be back in the city again by 8.30am," Ms Loto-Meleisea said. "Sometimes I would find myself studying at AUT South Campus or MIT (In Manukau) because I could stay later and not worry about it."
There is hope for a higher student profile in the city, however, after news University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon has joined the board of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED). They're the council-controlled organisation ( responsible for helping deliver economic transformation and Auckland Council's vision to become the world's most liveable city.
Mayor Len Brown says he's delighted Professor McCutcheon has joined the ATEED Board. "Under Professor McCutcheon's watch, the commercial potential of Auckland University research has been unlocked. He will bring to bear a perfect range of experience to help ATEED's ongoing transformation of Auckland's economy."
Mr Joyce said he believed there were several areas of opportunity for the universities, including growing engineering and science further, and making more international links.
"Not just international students, but to strengthen linkages more." He said it would be good to see more students spending a semester offshore in the Americas or at Asian universities.
We also need to keep growing provision in South Auckland, he said. "That's the biggest area where significant numbers of young people are not reaching their potential."
CASE STUDY: Melbourne
Aucklander Rowan Gaze is currently studying a masters in engineering at the University of Melbourne. Photo / Supplied
Beautiful beaches, good nightlife and a fair proportion of sunny days - sound familiar? All the factors that make Melbourne a great student city could apply to Auckland, except they're 20 places ahead of us in this year's rankings.
Coming second only to Paris, judges said Melbourne's diversity, social inclusion, quality of living and "employer activity" - how employers view the city's universities - were all excellent. Its cultural capital gave it an extra push, while affordability of both student fees and cost of living let it down.
Similar points were made about Auckland, minus so much culture and plus a bit of outdoor activities. Obviously, Auckland is smaller than Melbourne (population 4.5 million) and has fewer highly-ranked universities - we have two to their seven - but is that all that makes the difference?
Aucklander Rowan Gaze is currently studying a masters in engineering at the University of Melbourne, and says the main reason he likes it better is the student lifestyle.
The 23-year-old, now in his fifth year, lived on campus for the first two years in "college" which offered not only accomodation but beautiful surrounds, tennis courts, common rooms, pool tables and lots of social events.
"They do the on-campus stuff really well here, we even had sports against the other colleges, so you get to meet a lot of people," Mr Gaze said. "I think that's the difference compared to Auckland, the residences there are more like apartment buildings and there isn't a campus lifestyle."
He said once he left the college, it was similar to Auckland in that he lived in a flat, but there were plenty near the city and public transport made it easy to get around. Cycling was also popular, given the flat landscape.
