Note: links in archived stories may have expired due to the removal of the stories from, or changes to, the websites from which they were derived.

Hood helms Oxford
John Hood was inducted as the 270th Vice Chancellor of Oxford University on October 5; the first non-staff member ever to hold the post. Dr Hood was formerly Vice Chancellor of Auckland University and an advisor to the NZ cricket squad. He has a PhD in engineering from Oxford, and was CEO of companies in the Fletcher Challenge Group.
(5 October 2004)
     

NZ studies awarded 
Dr Ian Conrich, director of New Zealand Studies at the University of London, is the 2008 New Zealander of the Year in the UK. Conrich received the accolade at an awards ceremony in London on Waitangi Day in recognition of his achievements establishing the Centre for New Zealand Studies last year. "Over the last decade New Zealand Studies has made significant strides in becoming a recognisable and serious discipline," he recently said. A highly respected New Zealand academic, Conrich has a particular interest in film, cultural studies and early forms of tourism. He has written extensively about New Zealand and is editor of the forthcoming book, Contemporary New Zealand Cinema. 
(9 February 2008)

Love me, love my food
Canterbury University researcher Annie Potts coined the new buzzword "vegansexuality" in a paper published in May. Potts, a director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, surveyed 157 vegans and vegetarians on all aspects of cruelty-free living. She found that many vegans and vegetarians engage in "cruelty-free sex" by "rejecting meat-eaters as intimate partners". The study has received comment from PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk, who sees vegan-to-vegan love as a missed recruiting opportunity. Says Newkirk in the New York Times, "When my staff members come to me and say: 'Guess what? My boyfriend, now he's a vegan,' I say, half-jokingly: 'Well, it is time to ditch him and get another. You've done your work; move on.'" 
(9 December 2007)

Tributes flow for reading expert
Educators the world over have mourned the loss of Dame Marie Clay, an internationally renowned reading expert who has died in Auckland aged 81. Clay was a leading figure in the International Reading Association (IRA), serving as its president from 1992-3. "Marie Clay was a remarkable educator," said current IRA president Timothy Shanahan in an official statement. "She was by far the most important champion of the idea that reading problems could be identified and addressed with young children. Previous to her landmark efforts, it was common educational practice to ignore early learning delays in the hopes that these children might outgrow the problems, with the result that many struggling readers fell further behind ... Her passing is a great loss to the education community and to the world." Clay is best known in NZ for the acclaimed Reading Recovery Programme she established in 1983, which continues to be used in primary schools all over the country. "Not only was Dame Marie a highly skilled thinker, but she was always accessible to the teaching profession to spread her ideas and engage in dialogue about literacy," says Irene Cooper, president of the NZ Educational Institute. "She will be sadly missed, but her work remains as her memorial." 
(13 April 2007)

More Scottish than Scotland
Otago University has launched a global search to fill its inaugural chair in Scottish studies. The newly created position is one of a small number of its kind in the world and is intended to position Otago as an alternative location for Scottish studies for students from NZ and abroad. In his official announcement of the new chair, Vice-chancellor David Skegg described the position as a "natural academic fit for an institution of higher learning founded in the early days of the Otago settlement, a move which reflected the Scottish settlers' strong belief in higher education as an uplifting social force." According to current census figures, approximately 25% of New Zealanders whose ancestry pre-dates the 1950s claim Scottish descent. 
(9 January 2007)

First-class brain up to the challenge
The Guardian interviews Julie Maxton, the first female registrar of Oxford University since the role was created 550 years ago. Maxton previously worked with the Oxford vice-chancellor, fellow New Zealander John Hood, at Auckland University and has joined his team at a time of academic vs. administration infighting and major institutional restructuring. Guardian: "At times her modesty is almost comic. She laughs off any suggestion she is 'running' Oxford and asked how many people work for her she replies 'roughly 12.' My jaw drops. But, of course, she means the people who report directly to her, head of estates and so on. In fact, the buck for more than 4,000 staff, from administrators to librarians, technical people to cleaners, stops at the registrar's neat desk. But it would be unwise to underestimate Maxton, well regarded in NZ as a person and as a first-class legal brain." 
(12 September 2006)

Going all the way 
John Hood continues to shake the cloisters at Oxford University in his attempts, as Vice Chancellor, to secure the venerable institution's status as an academic powerhouse for the 21st century. A former CEO with Fletcher Challenge and Vice Chancellor at Auckland University, Hood has taken a no-nonsense business-minded approach to Oxford's notoriously decentralized power structure. While his critics damn him for "acting like a CEO of a large corporation," his champions praise his forward thinking and global outlook. "I think he is going to take Oxford all the way," says former president of Magdalen College, Anthony Smith. "He knows where Oxford needs to place itself in the world." 
(Registration required)
(5 December 2005)

Campaigning at the source
In innovative anti-drink driving campaign in NZ has made headlines around the world. Produced by the NZ Land Transport Safety Authority, the large, heat-activated ads are located in urinals in 260 pubs around the country. “What you'll see is essentially a black silhouette of two cars, side by side, underneath the phrase ‘Which car will you piss off in tonight?’”, explains LTSA representative Amy Knackstedt. “[T]he ads are heat activated, so when the heat affects them they unveil two different images – one of which is a badly crashed car, on top of the words ‘if you drink and drive you're a bloody idiot.’ And the other one is a nice, pristine, un-crashed taxi that says ‘If you drink then don't drive, you're a bloody legend.’”
(16 September 2004)
     

A voice to remember
A Stanford University obituary paid tribute to Susan Okin, the Auckland-born author, lecturer, and activist described by a Stanford University colleague as “perhaps the best feminist political philosopher in the world.” The author of three acclaimed books – Women in Western Political Thought (1979), Justice, Gender and the Family (1989), and Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? (1999) – Okin was one of the leading feminist voices in the study of Western family and employment law. She died aged 57.
(12 March 2004)    

Edge and ivory
Professor Malcolm Grant joins fellow NZer John Hood (newly appointed Oxford VC) in taking over Britain's ivory towers from the top. Currently the pro-vice-chancellor at Cambridge University, Grant will take the reins as the new provost of the prestigious University College London (UCL) in October. An environmental lawyer and barrister, Grant was awarded a CBE for services to planning law and local government this year. Lord Young, Chair of UCL Council: "Higher education in Britain is experiencing a period of great change and we are ready to accept the challenge this will present to UCL. Professor Grant will not only lead us into this new era but also ensure that UCL continues its radical tradition of refusing to let convention inhibit progress."
(2 April 2003)
  

History resurfaces
A letter penned by Captain Cook announcing his return from Australasian waters has been discovered stuck behind a picture frame at Brancaster Hall, England. The 200-year old missive "recalls the grim hardship of what is now considered the most significant voyage of the 18th century - Cook's three-year journey to chart the coasts of NZ and the east coast of Australia." The letter will be sold through Bonham auctioneers in December.
(3 September 2002) 
    

Oxford, Sorbonne, Harvard ... multiversity?
A radical new education model is questioning the relevance of Western/colonial education system and the university model of higher learning. The project is called "Multiversity" and will focus on those supposedly excluded from First World education, Asia, Africa and Latin America; the initial phase of the project set in a Maori community in New Zealand, as well as in Dubai, Penang and various locations in India.
(27 February 2002)
       

Incredible journey revealed
Massey University ecologists are conducting a groundbreaking study of the bar-tailed godwit's northern migration. While the 11,000 km southern migration of the godwit from Alaska to NZ is thought to be the longest non-stop flight by any bird, not much is known about its northern route. "We are entering a critical decade for these birds, so the research is timely and crucial," said research leader Dr Phil Battley. He points out that mapping the northern migration is particularly important because the birds touch down in Asia and are potential carriers of the H5N1 bird-flu virus to the Alaskan region. Massey researchers will monitor the godwits' journey by satellite-tagging individual birds, in a joint project with the United States Geological Survey and PRBO Conservation Science in the US. 
(31 March 2007)

Auckland prof named UN science laureate 
Auckland University professor Margaret Brimble has been named one of the world's top five woman scientists by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). As Laureate for the Asia-Pacific region, Brimble received the US$100,000 L'Oreal-UNESCO prize for her contribution to the synthesis of complex natural products, especially shellfish toxins. Brimble set up NZ's first degree in organic and medicinal chemistry at Auckland University in 1999. "What we do is we look to nature to find new active ingredients or molecules to develop into new medicines," she explained in the NZ Herald. "One example is a compound produced by fungi which kills the bacterium that causes infected ulcers. The compound occurs in nature. It is produced by the fungi but only in small amounts. So we then try and make that compound in the laboratory and make structure analogues similar to that compound that may be better - and that's the way you develop new medicines." According to Brimble, NZ could become a powerhouse for pharmaceutical research if enough time and money is invested: "All we have to do is get one successful drug on the market and we're there ... the first drug for a neuroprotective agent will be a billion-dollar product." 
(24 February 2007)

Kiwi science up to speed
September 1 saw the launch of the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) - a super high speed Internet service linking national universities and research institutions with their international counterparts. KAREN transmits data at a top speed of ten gigabytes per second, which is 10,000 times faster than a standard broadband connection. Run by Crown organisation Research and Education Advanced Network of New Zealand (REANNZ), KAREN received NZ$43 million in government funding. "The link is crucial in order to attract and retain scientists, because it allows a greater level of real time collaboration between scientists based in NZ, and their colleagues around the world," said PM Helen Clark at the launch. 
(1 September 2006)

Academia and industry united
Cambridge-MIT Institute director, NZer Michael J Kelly, speaks about the importance of combining entrepreneurial and business skills with academic learning in the Guardian. “Governments around the world realise that it shouldn't be left to chance as to whether bright students, and indeed inventive academics, manage to get their ideas out of the university laboratory and into the market place … [CMI’s] intensive course for budding student entrepreneurs has resulted in several businesses being launched by its alumni. It is seen as a key resource by regional development agencies, which view university graduates as a prime source for developing new businesses in their region.”
(11 May 2005)

Communication lines opened
Auckland University is to house a Beijing-sponsored language institute which will promote Mandarin as a second language in NZ schools. Chinese currently make up over 40% of NZ’s Asian population. NZ is currently in negotiations with China for a bilateral free trade agreement.
(22 March 2005)
  

Kiwi quiz goes global
The Kids’ Lit Quiz, founded in NZ by educationalist Wayne Mills, is growing increasingly popular in the UK, where it is now in its third year. The 2004 event was won by an all female team from Cherwell School in Oxford, who will travel to NZ for the world finals in 2005. The Kids’ Lit Quiz concept is now being developed in Canada, Australia, Ireland and China.
(7 December 2004)
   

Google and Froogle
Waikato University graduate Craig Nevill-Manning is Director, New York & Senior Staff Research Scientist for the world's leading search engine company, Google. Nevill-Manning completed a PhD in computer science at Waikato before taking up a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University. He is now the chief ideas man at Google's office in Times Square, New York, whose successful developments include the recently launched product search system, Froogle. In June Nevill-Manning made a recruitment tour of Australia, as the Google plans to triple its international workforce over the next 12 months.
(22 June 2004)
   

Grant works his magic
Malcolm Grant - former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, now Provost of University College London - profiled in the Guardian.  UCL's retiring professor of English, John Sutherland, noted his 'impeccable academic pedigree' (Grant is a lawyer and a professor of land economy), describing him as 'the rarest of birds, that unicorn among university provosts, someone who could work with the government and, when his conscience demanded, stand up against it.'"
(4 May 2004)
  

Birkenhead revisited?
From Sky Tower to dreaming spires: Oxford University today nominated NZer John Hood as its next vice-chancellor - the first to be chosen from outside the esteemed university in its 900-year history. Dr Hood gained an Engineering PhD from Auckland University, an MPhil at Oxford (as a Rhodes scholar at Worcester College), and worked in industry (at Fletcher Challenge) for 18 years before taking up the Auckland University vice- chancellorship. He holds board positions at Fonterra, ASB Bank, and chairs the Knowledge Wave Trust. Hood: "I am humbled to have been invited to lead Oxford, one of the world's great universities." 
(18 June 2003)

Australasian appeal
"Out US and UK, in Australia and New Zealand." Indian emigrants and students are favouring a move Down Under over the traditional destinations of old, thanks to easier entry procedures and cheaper education facilities.
(12 April 2003)
   

Knowledge society
The Guardian survey of international universities commends the NZ government's "[aggressive promotion of investing] in higher education and research," noting "Blairite" Helen Clarke's role in making "the culture at large more research-friendly." As a result, student numbers in 2002 are up 7% from 2000 and expected to increase further. The next hurdle is attracting more overseas academics despite significantly smaller salaries and research funding available. Inspirational working environments and lifestyle allure will play a key role.
(10 September 2002)
         

Kiwi "Who Was Who" goes online
A fantastic resource for exploring over 3000 NZer's who have 'made their mark' on our history. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography puts the entire contents of the previous print Dictionary of New Zealand Biography online for all New Zealanders. Edited by Dr Claudia Orange and designed by award winning Wellington firm Click Suite, the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography is "an attempt to assert the character and standing of the nation through the lives of its people". 
(25 March 2002) 
           

Value for money 

Paradise home to future leaders
Paradise, NZ, could be home to the first United World College (UWC) in Australasia, and just the second in the southern hemisphere. Based on the philosophy of Kurt Hahn, who also founded the Outward Bound movement, UWCs offer students with proven leadership abilities a two-year residential program which promotes strong humanitarian and environmental values within an academically demanding setting. The current co-presidents of UWC International are Nelson Mandela and Queen Noor of Jordan, but each college is set up through local initiative and remains an independent charitable body responsible for its own funding. The proposed UWC at Paradise would include 40 per cent New Zealanders among its 200-250 students. "This project offers New Zealand a chance to provide leadership as a global citizen, but we can't do it without the help of philanthropists who have a passion for education and its role in creating a more peaceful and sustainable world," said project manager John Hillhorst, who estimates the college's establishment cost to be $NZ 50 million. The proposed site overlooks the Dart River at the head of Lake Wakatipu, adjacent to the South Westland/Te Waahi Pounamu World Heritage Park. 
(6 March 2007)

The Flynn Effect 
James Flynn - Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at Otago University, intelligence researcher and "unassuming moral philosopher" - is profiled in the Guardian. Born in Washington DC, Flynn has lived and worked in NZ since 1963. After spending most of his career studying free will and determinism in terms of political and moral philosophy, Flynn "gate-crashed" the IQ test debate in the 1980s and has emerged as one of the world's leading psychology theorists as a result. He is best known for his discovery of the Flynn effect: the continued year-by-year rise of IQ scores in the developed world. "There had been several studies showing that IQ levels were rising, but on each occasion the researchers wrote off their findings as anomalous one-offs," says Flynn. "All I really did was to piece together the existing studies and read through the IQ publishers' manuals to detect the underlying patterns." 
(2 January 2007)

Conference finds common language
Hamilton hosted the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in late November, an event which drew more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world. The delegation from North America's Kodiak Island is keen to emulate the "unusual success" of Maori in maintaining their culture and language. Kodiak Islander April Laktonen Counceller spoke of her NZ experience - which included visiting te reo immersion schools from primary to university level and meeting the Maori Queen, Te Atairangikaahu - in the Indian Country, America's leading indigenous paper. "It felt really good to be around so many people trying to improve their community," she said. "It didn't matter if they were from an island in the South Pacific or an island in the North Pacific, like Kodiak." 
(3 January 2006)

Kaitaia fire
Two groups of Far North students excelled at the Community Problem Solving Championships in Lexington, Kentucky. Kaitaia Primary School won the junior (9-11) section of the competition with their solution to the regular low-level flooding of their school, while nearby Ahipara Primary came second in the intermediate section with their clean up plan for the badly polluted Wairoa Stream. “They are an amazing bunch of children,” said Kaitaia Primary assistant principal Cherie Duncan. “We are all just so stoked for them and so proud of them.”
(8 June 2005)
   

Kiwis climb ranks at Oxford
Julia Maxton will join former Auckland University colleague John Hood at Oxford University next year, as the institution’s first ever female registrar. The 550 year old post is similar to that of a company secretary, with its key focus being the implementation of university policy. “She brings with her enormous experience, academically, administratively and legally,” says Vice Chancellor John Hood of Maxton. “These qualities make her well equipped to play a crucial role in enabling the university to deliver its mission of international excellence at a time of increasing global competitiveness.” Maxton is currently professor and dean of law at Auckland University.
(5 May 2005)

Model students
NZ’s recently remodelled academic examination system (NCEA) is being touted by education reformers in the UK. The NCEA system is almost identical to one proposed by Britain’s former chief schools inspector, Mark Tomlinson, in October last year. By combining academic and vocational examinations under one umbrella, NZ has already seen a decreased number of students leaving school without qualifications – something UK reformers are hoping to emulate.
(3 December 2004)
    

Shrinking world
Students at NZ’s International Pacific College took part in a live projection teleconference debate with a class at Cerritos College in Long Beach, California. Cerritos teacher, John Haas, wanted to “literally bring the world to his world history class” and, in the process, try to dispel some of the anti-American sentiment overseas. “[The NZ students] were so aware of what is going on in our country,” said US student Laura Ramirez-Guerrero. “And I have no idea what's going on in theirs. One girl was giving facts about the presidential election. She knew the names, the numbers and exactly how many electoral votes were received by Bush and Kerry.”
(16 November 2004)
   

Custodian of the English language
Eminent lexicographer Robert W Burchfield has died aged 81. The Wanganui-born scholar rose to fame as editor of the 4-volume Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. The massive undertaking took nearly 30 years to complete - from 1957 to 1986 - and provoked heated debate, court cases, even death threats along the way. The task was a labour of love for the man who once described the English language as "a monster accordion, stretchable at the whim of the editor, compressible ad lib." Obituaries for Burchfield appeared in almost every major paper, including the Guardian, New York Times, LA Times, and Belfast Telegraph. Guardian: "Long before the Rockies crumble, the English language will have changed beyond our imagining, but for now, and a considerable time to come, Burchfield's work will fuel that shoal of volumes bred by a whale of a dictionary which is relished by all who marvel at what words can do."
See NZEDGE Hero story
(7 July 2004)

Edge-ucation on offer
Arab students are increasingly choosing NZ as an education destination, according to a Gulf News report. Education Minister Trevor Mallard cited the schooling system's pioneering nature and relative affordability, as well as the country's reputation as a safe and multi-cultural society, as some of the key drawcards at a press conference given in Dubai last month.
(18 May 2003)   

Creative curriculum
A Times article deploring the state of the British education system holds up its New Zealand counterpart as the benchmark for quality and creativity. "Look at New Zealand, which manages to incorporate dance into maths classes, drama into history and music into physics […] Young people there are encouraged to think creatively, beyond the confines of the curriculum structure, and to experiment."
(31 March 2003)
    

Principaled principal
NZer Graham Cherry, director of the Baghdad International School, intends to stay on in Iraq despite repeated warnings for Westerners to leave. Cherry: "I have no plans to leave. The school is open. I don't want any child to miss a school year. I have hope that peace will prevail." Cherry is believed to be the only NZer left in Iraq, other than a small team of soldiers with the UN.
(10 February 2003)
      

Intellectually challenged NZ
Record numbers of NZ scholars, researchers, and graduates continue to leave antipodean pastures in search of work overseas notwithstanding another dose of local official hoopla, this time heard at the Innovate Conference in Christchurch. "New Zealand has always been dependent on imported knowledge", writes "exiled" academic Richard Easther, now a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at Brown University, but "the current state of university funding makes it difficult to participate in the circulation of knowledge and talent that is a crucial part of the international academic world". See the NZEDGE Hot spots for further discussion on the brain-exchange.
(11 February 2002)
          

Miracle reading
Reading Recovery, developed by New Zealand's Dame Marie Clay, means results at a Toronto Public School where staff "watched miracles unfold" after the programme was introduced.
(9 July 2001)