$8.4 million worth of Marsden research grants have been donated to Victoria University researchers for 2010. The grants include nine standard grants and six Fast Start grants.

This year’s largest standard grant in the country and Victoria’s largest ever, $1.04 million, was awarded to Professor Sir Paul Callaghan for his research into magnetic resonance. Callaghan will also be presented with an honorary Doctor of Science at the December graduation ceremony.

Some of the other prominent Marsden investments include a standard grant of $885,000 for Jeff Sigafoos’ research into communication intervention for autistic children and a standard grant of $830,000 for Dr Monica Handler’s isotope tracing research.

The Marsden Fast Start Grants are all of $300,000 value, and were awarded to a very diverse group of research initiatives.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh was extremely pleased with the wide range of faculties that received Marsden grants for this year.

“We had research funded right across the University. Of particular note were grants to researchers in the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Architecture and Design, both of which received Marsden funding for the first time.”

The Marsden Fund invests annually in research in New Zealand. This year more than 100 research projects received $60 million in grants.

All grants, despite their difference in value, are distributed over the course of a three year period.

Rivalry between halls of residence is likely to increase in 2011, with the university’s introduction of a new contender for first choice on application forms.

The yet-to-be-named accommodation at 132 The Terrace will be a fully-catered, 241-bed hall, serving primarily domestic first-year students.

This development comes shortly after University Hall announced its decision to significantly limit accommodation for domestic students from 2011 onwards. As reported in Salient, Manager of Student Accommodation Nick Merrett said she believed students wouldn’t be disadvantaged by the changes, as there were already a large number of places in halls of residence offered to domestic students.

In a press statement released by the university, Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh indicated that there was a significant need for accommodation for domestic students.

“The demand for accommodation at Victoria has been growing significantly in recent years—students from across New Zealand and overseas want to study at Victoria. With Te Puni Village, and now this new complex, we are meeting this need for high quality accommodation.”

The building will be leased by Victoria University and is soon to be refurbished into a student accommodation complex.

Students are able to apply for the new hall online at www.victoria.ac.nz/accommodation

John Key at Vic, Salient’s invitation lost. Again.

Prime Minister John Key says student debt is a “disaster”, and has raised fresh debate surrounding the future of the current interest-free student loan model.

Key commented on the loan system during a question and answer session after a speech to students at Victoria University’s Weir House last week, explaining how he saw the dire state of collective student debt.

“If you’re an investment banker—not that I am these days—you’d say it’s a disaster of a loan book… It’s $11 billion, roughly, at the moment and we collect 53 cents in the dollar, that’s it. Fifty-three cents in the dollar. If you just sat there, logically, you’d say there has to be a better way of doing it.”

While Weir House residents may not have understood the significance of Key’s comments, they were quickly latched onto by the media and student politicians. Audience members said the comments were off-hand.

Throw-away or not, the comments are the latest in a string of what could be interpreted as hints. National backed the interest-free loan scheme in the 2008 election, but Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce has since admitted it was a “political call” and Key, then in opposition, described the policy as irresponsible.

However, the sudden political talk surrounding student loans is unlikely to have any short-term consequences for students. In parliamentary question time the next day, Key, when bluntly asked if it was the National Government’s intention to introduce interest on loans, answered: “It is my intention to keep interest-free student loans.”

He did, however, signal that greater efforts would be made to chase up non-paying overseas debtors, saying the “Minister for Tertiary Education is looking at ways to improve collection of loans from overseas-based borrowers”. Late repayments by overseas debtors grew 111 per cent last year, the Dominion Post reported.

Student representatives spoke out strongly against any attempt to introduce interest on loans. Otago University Students’ Association President Harriet Geoghegan said she was concerned about the potential for greater numbers of students to leave New Zealand after graduation because the incentive to stay and pay back a loan without interest would be gone.

“The interest-free system, while not addressing the issues of affordability of education, is making staying in New Zealand a more attractive prospect for graduates. Key feels the government cannot afford to maintain interest-free loans, but New Zealand knows we can’t afford not to.

“Like Key, students agree the student loan system doesn’t stack up. Why would New Zealand want to produce generation after generation of graduates who are mired in a debt that is currently close to $11 billion?” said Geoghegan.

NZUSA co-President David Do said “The government should focus on reducing the need for such debt in the first place, and to let the budget’s changes regarding student loans pan out. While John Key has yet again reaffirmed the policy will stay, constant questioning of it is unhelpful and indicates National’s commitment to it is faltering.”

Victoria University’s newly opened Alan MacDiarmid building has been gifted the Nobel Prize Medal which belonged to the late scientist of the same name.

The medal was gifted to the university by MacDiarmid’s widow Gayl Gentile, who acknowledges that having the building named after him is a huge honour.

MacDiarmid was a part-time student at Victoria before furthering his studies overseas and earning the Nobel Prize for his achievements in the field of Chemistry.

The medal will be placed in the foyer of the new $48 Million science building. Vice-Chancellor Pat Walsh described it as “an inspiration to the staff and students that study here”.

A group of protesters gathered outside the National Party headquarters on Willis Street last Monday to oppose the government’s proposal to extend the 90-day trial period to all employers.

Organised via Facebook, by 5.30pm the picket protest was well underway, with protesters carrying signs baring slogans such as ‘Screwed if we don’t work, Screwed if we do!’

Former VUWSA President and protest organiser Joel Cosgrove described the policy as “anti-workers law”.

“It is a bill that could, in some way, affect everyone that is starting a new job.”

A ‘Toot for Support’ banner received a lot of attention from bus drivers.

However, not everyone present agreed with the protesters. Hundreds of people walked straight through the middle of the demonstration, with one passer-by yelling “Go home wankers!” into a protester’s microphone.