New Zealand's Association of University Staff (AUS) is accusing the new Minister for Tertiary Education, Max Bradford, of having a one-dimensional view of post-secondary education.

In recent public statements, Mr. Bradford argued that universities need to develop stronger service links with the private sector.

"The Minister fails to realize that education and research do not simply exist to service industry and enterprise," said AUS president Jane Kelsey. "Healthy, forward-looking economies require vibrant societies and a strong, challenging, intellectual environment. That requires a broad-based education system which values such non-economic disciplines as history, politics, language and literature, music and pure science."

AUS strongly objected to the Minister's suggestion that university research funding be more specifically directed toward commercial interests.

"The government is tightening its grip on what research is done, and by whom," Kelsey warned. "Research which does not meet the government's economic priorities, and especially any that is critical, seems likely to be cut, if it is funded at all."