Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management
University of Canterbury/Lincoln University
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch 8140, NEW ZEALAND
Ph: +64 3 3642330
5 September, 2016
Re: Submission on “Refreshing Lincoln”
To Whom It May Concern
Thank you for the invitation to make a submission on what might be done to “refresh Lincoln University”. The
Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management operates a joint teaching and research programme across the
University of Canterbury (UC) and Lincoln University (LU) and therefore has a keen and vested interest in the
future of Lincoln University. Our Centre delivers 2 undergraduate and 3 postgraduate WATR teaching courses
at LU, and helps out with a further 2 WATR undergraduate courses run by other departments. It also runs two
postgraduate qualifications; Postgraduate Diploma and Masters in Water Resource Management (WRM). Our
courses and qualifications involve teaching and research supervision by many UC and LU academic staff, who
are all members of the Centre. LU funds 50% of the Centre’s Director position and a full time laboratory
manager, and provides staff/student offices and (the Centre’s only) laboratory facilities, in the NRE building.
A CUAP Graduating Year Review of the Masters and PGDip Water Resource Management was undertaken this
year. It strongly supported continuing the Centre’s teaching activities at both universities, based on strong
EFTS growth and the positive feedback received by WRM graduates who are now employed in the water
sector. We do value our role at Lincoln University, and the support we have had from this university over the
last 7 years. However, running an effective, cohesive teaching programme across two universities is
challenging. One of our most significant obstacles is LU’s complicated and inflexible administration of its
teaching programmes.
We spend much more time on postgraduate teaching administration and reporting at LU than we do at UC,
despite typically having less than half the number of postgraduate students enrolled at LU. Time-consuming
and counterproductive tasks include; navigating the complex student admission and enrolment processes (for
students), chasing postgraduate students for frequent, repetitive, long progress reports and helping complete
the difficult forms, attending multiple meetings to achieve minor course or programme changes, trying to get
website and timetable details correct, time-intensive exam moderation procedures, etc. Rationalising and
streamlining basic academic processes would greatly improve the admission and teaching/learning experience
for both academic staff and students. It is the norm for modern, research-led teaching universities to train
and trust their academic staff to handle their own programme administration, teaching and supervision
responsibilities, without the intensive checking, tracking and progress reporting that is currently required at
LU.
Combining LU teaching courses and programmes with those of other universities, nationally or internationally,
would help overcome the limitations of a small student-base and restricted learning experiences. Some of the
problems we have experienced in running a joint teaching programme between UC and LU provide good
examples of what needs to be addressed to facilitate such collaboration and exchange. Issues that we continue
to deal with on a day-to-day basis include;
• The non-alignment of the teaching year and semester breaks
• Different postgraduate course weightings at LU (20 pts) and UC (15 or 30 pts). If a student from Lincoln
wants to take a paper at UC to make up their qualification, they can end up 5 points short of the total
needed.
• The lack of flexibility in LU teaching administration is difficult to reconcile with the more flexible
approach at UC, when it comes to administration of the same WRM degree. For example, if a WRM
student does end up 5 pts short in their degree (as above), LU does not allow such students to graduate
while UC does.
• Students wishing to take a course at the “other” university have to go through an entire additional
admission process, showing original paperwork, etc. There is currently no method for recognising the
“other” university’s admission process.
• Cross-university supervision for postgraduate thesis research (e.g., a LU academic as the main
supervisor for a UC-enrolled WRM student, or vice versa) is currently difficult, despite the
acknowledged benefits for both students and staff members.
Thank you for providing the opportunity for consultation, and please do contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Professor Jenny Webster-Brown
cc:
Greg Ryan, Dean, ES&D, Lincoln University
Wendy Lawson, PVC, College of Science, University of Canterbury