New law targets uni halls
Threat of $100k fines for failure of care after student’s death
Halls and hostels charge a premium for their accommodation and parents have every right to expect a high level of care for their sons and daughters.
Chris Hipkins Education Minister
Universities and halls of residence could face penalties of up to $100,000 under new laws planned after a Christchurch student lay dead for several weeks before being found.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins yesterday said the Government would introduce a new mandatory code of practice that would set out the duty of pastoral care tertiary providers owed to pupils.
“The recent death at a student hall of residence in Christchurch exposed the limitations of our current system,” Hipkins said. “Halls and hostels charge a premium for their accommodation and parents have every right to expect a high level of care for their sons and daughters.”
The announcement comes after the body of 19-year-old student Mason Pendrous was discovered in the Sonoda hall of residence, run by Campus Living Villages (CLV), at the University of Canterbury last month. He had been dead about four weeks.
Hipkins said under urgent changes to the Education Act would make care of students consistent across the country from 2021.
“Tertiary education providers could have complied with a voluntary code which was created in 2004, but the self-regulation approach has failed to maintain adequate and consistent standards across the board,” Hipkins said. “We are putting safeguards in place to prevent another tragedy like the one at the Sonoda student accommodation.”
The law would also create new offences carrying maximum penalties up $100,000 for breaches that resulted in serious harm or the death of a student. Hipkins said that in the interim, a temporary code would be set up for the 2020 academic year that would apply to both domestic and international students.
Student unions last month demanded changes to stop a repeat of the Christchurch death.
Pendrous, who was in his first year studying e-commerce, is thought to have probably died on August 24.
However his body wasn’t found until September 23, when his friend climbed on to the roof at the halls of residence where the teen lived and looked into his missing friend’s room.
Victoria University of Wellington this month also confirmed a male Australian student aged in his 30s was found dead in his flat three days after he died in a university residence at Education House in Willis St in January last year.