increase font size
Steve Smith.
Lincoln University is already working to transform itself as suggested in a hard-hitting report warning it is underperforming in many areas.
A ‘transformation board’ set up in March to assess the university and map a future strategy released its report two weeks ago, warning that retaining the status quo “is not an option”.
“By most metrics Lincoln University is not delivering on its potential. It remains small scale, has a poor sense of strategy and has weak relationships with key stakeholders and entities who should or could be partners,” the report states.
“The teaching offering and delivery is in need of an overhaul, along with the focus of research activities, so that the university can make a more significant contribution to learning, and to community and national wellbeing.”
Chancellor Steve Smith has welcomed the report, saying the negatives emphasised by some news media actually represent opportunities for change. He said it was “a resounding endorsement of the role the university has to play for the future”.
“The board report could have said Lincoln University should be merged with one of the bigger universities, that it’s too small and not set for the future,” Smith told Rural News.
“However, they quite conclusively said no, Lincoln University should remain an independent university, but much more integrated into the Lincoln Hub, and focused on what it can contribute to enhancing the prosperity of New Zealanders.”
Smith says agriculture will be an “absolute core focus” of what the university does.
The report says Lincoln and its students would benefit from a big cut in the number of undergraduate qualifications it offers, but being more flexible in its offerings of course majors, and better aligning those majors to the skills industry needs.
Smith is heading an interim group of council and senior management now looking at how to implement and prioritise the report, “including thinking about the academic offering for 2018”.
“I imagine we’ll start to see by the middle of next year a sign of what the new Lincoln might look like,” Smith said.
In its organisation and finances the university is now stable, whereas a couple of years ago it wasn’t.
“We’re going to post an exceptional result in 2017, from a financial point of view, so that gives us great confidence looking forward.”
The future of New Zealand’s agricultural sector grew a little brighter, with the South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) now accepting applications for its scholarships through Lincoln University, offering $10,500 to up to six exceptional students who are poised to become the next leaders in the primary industries.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
A new report from ASB and Lincoln University shows how smarter, more diverse land use could unlock billions in value for farmers and the wider economy.
Fonterra has invested in a new effluent pond mobile dosing service to support farmers to reduce emissions and make progress towards its on-farm emissions reductions target.
Jonathan Jamieson, a Lincoln University student, has been named as the latest recipient of Ravensdown’s Hugh Williams Memorial Scholarship.
Federated Farmers says climate protest group Greenpeace is manufacturing outrage and attempting to scare New Zealanders with headlines that have no basis in science.
New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) says it is supporting importer Goodfood Group in its decision to recall Food Snob and Mon Ami brand French Brie and Camembert cheeses.
New Zealand's dairy industry is right to call out Donald Trump over the damage the additional 15% tariff the US is imposing on our exports but also imposition on lower tariffs on our competitors.
Applications are now open for the Agri Futures Scholarships, helping young Kiwis from rural backgrounds kickstart careers in agriculture and rural sports.
Agricultural support giant PGG Wrightson will pay a dividend this year on the back of an improved performance buoyed by increased optimism in the sector.
Changes to resource management laws announced last week will spare thousands of farmers from needing an unnecessary resource consent just to keep farming.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is…
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle…
