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Salient. Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Volume Number 39, Issue 6. April 5 [1976]
Department Blunders Along
Department Blunders Along.
In fact, last year the relationship between the Department and its Minister became so chronic that there was a court action taken by the retiring Director-General against the Minister, Phil Amos.
On this occasion, the Department has made more blunders:
| 1. | It still has not got any final bursary regulations drafted, even though it has a legal draftsman sitting around doing nothing. |
| 2. | It did not tell the universities that the Government had authorised the first-term payment of the bursary until last Monday because 'it did not consider it necessary to do so.' |
| 3. | It did not make any attempt to get the 'Notes for Bursary Applicants' to this campus before enrolment. Instead the leaflet, which was needed by enroling students in order to know if they were eligible for the STB, f finally turned up on campus two days after enrolment had finished. |
Even though students are to receive their first bursary payment, they may have similar trouble in the future, unless pressure is put on the Department. Our only protection at the moment lies in legally gazetted regulation.
NZUSA Education Vice-president, Mike Shassky, pointed out at Wednesday's forum that there were still many grey areas in the draft regulations.
Without gazetted regulations people falling within these areas, such as married students, may find the size of their bursary payments determined by the whims of the bursary clerk.