Unitec raises hackles over plan for trades degree

By DITA DE BONI education reporter

Plans by Auckland polytechnic Unitec to offer degrees to tradespeople have come under fire from critics who claim the move will cheapen the university qualification.

Unitec wants to introduce a Bachelor of Applied Technology by 2004, allowing mechanics, boat-builders, electricians, plumbers, gas fitters, joiners, furniture makers and interior designers to gain a degree qualification.

But academics - including the country's vice-chancellors - as well as training industry bodies are opposed to the plans and are expected to lobby against them.

The acrimony over Unitec's move comes out of the institute's continued plans to become a university, which the country's eight established universities have opposed for six years.

Some critics say Unitec's courses do not have the intellectual rigour to qualify as university courses, and the move to offer degrees to tradespeople is seen as another symptom of that.

The proposal has also drawn fire from industry training bodies, which say the multimillion-dollar national standards system for tradespeople devised by the Government and industry is being flouted by an institution determined to compete against others.

The Unitec trades degree, still in its formative stages, could take up to two years to be approved by the Qualifications Authority. State funding is not assured as the Government has said it wants to prune the number of degree courses, especially those offered by non-universities.

But Unitec is determined to continue offering bachelor's degrees and says it will keep trying for university status, even though the Government continues to knock it back.

The present degree proposal is "not simply one more year plonked on to a diploma course", says Ray Meldrum, associate head of Unitec's Applied Technology Institute and programme leader.

"One of the things we hear from lots of tradespeople is that they are increasingly required to be responsible for things such as running the workshop or projects, not to mention running their own businesses.

"The degree aims to teach people to think laterally, to think about how they think, to be able to come up with new ideas and concepts."

Mr Meldrum says there has always been opposition towards vocationally based degrees, including those such as nursing and winemaking, which are now established academic courses.

No member of the Vice-Chancellors' Committee approached for comment would discuss the academic issues raised by Unitec's proposal, citing sensitivity.

But the committee - long opposed to Unitec's desire to become a university and embroiled in legal proceedings against it for its use of the phrase "Tomorrow's University" in marketing material - is known to be firmly against the creation of more degree courses.

And the Industry Training Federation, which covers 99 per cent of industry, feels the business community and the Government have worked hard to establish national standards for tradespeople that should be followed.

"Unitec has always taken the view that it knows better than industry and the training organisations, and it is disappointing when the Government wants everyone in the sector to work more collaboratively," says executive director Paul Williams.

But Peter Busfield of the Boating Industry Training Organisation says the marine industry lacks skilled workers, especially at the project management and supervisory levels.

He says genuine employers would be willing to pay more for qualified graduates and the organisation will look closely at what any provider offers.

Mr Meldrum says ultimately the trades degrees are geared to people who may not have done so well in the state schooling system.

"We actually spend a lot of time building up the confidence of people who have 'failed' in that system. Our course does not require lots of essays and long written assignments, but it is still extremely thorough."

Student Fa'apuea Mataia, who left school without sixth-form certificate about 20 years ago, agrees. He is now looking forward to taking his degree in automotive technology after graduating from his diploma course with straight As.

"If you would have said to me when I left school that I could ever get a degree and run my own businesses, I would have laughed at you," he says.

"At the most I thought I would come in and get a [one-year] national certificate [in motor industry] and work on the shop floor for the next five to 10 years, and maybe I'd end up getting a management role if someone quit.

"Now, I'm going to be my own boss - I feel like I have wings."

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