I wonder what percentage of students are actually involved in extra curricular activity in New Zealand’s universities? While most people will tell you that it is important to partake in such activities, rather than just focusing on completing a degree. There does not seem to be a culture or value based incentives to encourage students to partake in the greater pursuits that universities have to offer.

So the question is; how can incentives be created that will motivate students to become more involved in the university community, including student politics.

Victoria University has taken a small step by implementing the Victoria plus award: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/career_development/victoriaPlus/about_victoria_plus.aspx which gives credits for completing tasks that it deems worthy of credit, for example “Helping new students settle in as a Campus Coach”

While it may not be the use that it is creators intended. I believe that Academic Score: http://www.academicscore.com/ could be a useful tool to effectively show that simply obtaining a degree is not the be all and end all of tertiary development. This could further motivate universities to broaden their view on their qualifications. Alternatively the universities could be encouraged to head back to their more traditional role of focusing on pushing the boundaries of academic excellence to benefit society as a whole rather than balancing this role with the sausage factory degree production system which is currently happening.

Once students, employers and society become aware that there is more to education than academic study, and that there is more to university than doing the bare minimum to pass papers to get a degree. Hopefully then we can move on and make university the stronger community that it deserves to be.