Do not be fooled by Dr Jimmy Jin's youthful appearance. He knows a thing or two.
The 27-year-old who would not stand out in a crowd of undergraduates, is in fact a Shanghai-trained medical doctor halfway through a PhD in vascular research at the University of Otago.
Dr Jin remembers clearly the tedious rote memorisation of 12 years' primary and secondary schooling that culminated in one exam to determine whether he would go to university.
Success meant the next decade was spent studying medicine at the highly regarded Shanghai Jiao Tong University. There he also earned a master's degree, for which he put in 12-hour days, six days a week.
Then, in October 2011, he stepped off a plane at Dunedin International Airport to be greeted by ''more cattle and sheep than people''.
In New Zealand he has enjoyed a good research environment and the friendliness of locals, but misses the food and the efficient public transport of home.
And there is something else, that has also stood out.
''The way people think here is more open,'' Dr Jin said.
''Chinese people have an answer in their mind first, and then they try to find a way to reach the answer.
''People here are open to any answers.''
According to the New Zealand Government's draft Tertiary Education Strategy, Dr Jin is one of those international students who our higher education sector needs to do more to attract.
The draft strategy was recently announced by Steven Joyce, who is Minister of Tertiary Education, and Skills and Employment, not to mention Economic Development, Finance, Science and Innovation, and Small Business.
Mr Joyce wants to see the total value of international education to New Zealand's economy double to $5 billion by 2025.
Other elements of the strategy include tailoring courses to labour market needs, increasing the number of people with qualifications and jobs, and prioritising funding business-led research.
On the same day the draft strategy was released, Mr Joyce also announced he wanted to reduce the size of university and wananga governing councils by at least a third.
The change would make the councils more ''flexible'' and ''nimbler'', he said.
The overarching aim of the draft strategy and associated changes is to ''improve the way tertiary education supports achievement, industry, innovation and economic growth'', Mr Joyce said.
The announcements have been greeted by delighted applause and howls of despair.
BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly welcomes the draft strategy's ''strong emphasis on the economy''.
''It's positive to see tertiary education being more explicitly linked with employment,''Mr O'Reilly said.
Tertiary Education Union secretary Sharn Riggs decries the proposed changes as part of a plan to turn universities into businesses. A successful strategy needs to factor in societal benefits as well as economic ones, Ms Riggs says.
Academic Freedom Aotearoa co-chairwoman Dr Sandra Grey is concerned the plans will threaten universities' legislated role as the conscience and critic of society.
''Commercialisable research is valuable to New Zealand, and we support it,'' Dr Grey said.
''But we also need to support ... research that questions and challenges business or government.''
Some questions are also being raised about the Government's $250 million a year Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF).
Under the draft strategy the fund will be increased by a further $50 million a year by 2016, with an aim to ''improving the quality and quantity of research outputs'' and to ''further reward commercialisation of research''.
A fortnight ago, however, international science journal Nature published a special report on performance-based, higher education evaluation worldwide.
It said evaluation systems could get better results out of universities but also risked distracting and over-working the institutions' researchers.
There is one more, fundamental concern.
Mr Joyce, in his introduction to the draft strategy, touts a high-quality tertiary education as a ''passport to success''. The tertiary sector needs to ''better equip individuals ... to participate effectively ... in an innovative and successful New Zealand'', he said.
The link between innovation and prosperity is picked up repeatedly in the draft strategy:
''These connections play an important role in a wide range of innovation systems underpinning a dynamic growing economy''; ''Providing new knowledge and innovative ideas for the economy and society''; ''We want to increase the tertiary education system's impact on innovation occurring across the country, and hence economic growth ...''
But could this approach, with its slant towards business-led research, industry collaboration and career-focused education, undermine the very goal it is designed to achieve? C
ould this emphasis lead to a decline in critical, independent thinking, which produces fewer innovative thinkers, leaving New Zealand trailing in the global economic wake rather than riding the wave?
Mr Joyce rejects the notion unequivocally.
He is not concerned the draft strategy could erode academic freedom and university autonomy through control mechanisms like the PBRF and council structures.
''No, because it is not the case,'' Mr Joyce said.
''Explicit arrangements to ensure universities' autonomy, academic freedom, and their role as `critic and conscience of society' are guaranteed by the Education Act 1989.''
Also, the PBRF was ''neutral'' about what subjects were researched, Mr Joyce said. Although he did add that more would be done to highlight which research was giving the best return on taxpayers' money.
There was also no reason to think graduates today were any less creative and independent than in previous generations, he said.
Critical thinking, teamwork, and problem-solving is still an integral part of any degree programme, Mr Joyce maintains.
''Employers are ... demanding more of that, as are students because their education is a big investment of time and money in their future.
''These skills are increasingly critical to the competitive advantage of New Zealand's workforce.''
A similar response, with a couple of caveats, is given by the University of Otago. Vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne says the PBRF has increased New Zealand universities' ''incredible'' research productivity.
But these gains can no longer be sustained without increased investment ''to match the resources competing nations invest in their universities'', Prof Hayne said.
And while the university is willing to compromise with the Government on the size of its governing council, she says the consensus at world-leading universities is that ''more heads ... rather than fewer'' are needed to effectively manage such complex organisations.
Independent thinking is what her university is all about, Prof Hayne says.
Academics at Otago are encouraged to serve their role as society's conscience and critic, and to foster thinking skills in the classroom, Prof Hayne says.
''We educate hundreds of doctors, dentists, pharmacists, psychologists, lawyers, and scientists of all shapes and sizes,'' she said.
''Critical thinking and questioning conventional wisdom is at the heart of these curricula ... [and] at the heart of our humanities curricula.
''Our goal is not to fill their heads with facts, but rather to teach them the skills that they will need to continue to learn for the rest of their lives.''
That may be the case at present. But the question remains: despite the best intentions, could the capacity for critical thought and innovation be lost as the Government tries to tie universities ever more tightly to the knowledge economy?
Nick Zepke is an associate professor with the Institute of Education, at Massey University, Palmerston North. His research indicates the process has already begun.
In a paper published late last year in the peer-reviewed international journal Policy Futures in Education, Prof Zepke said changes began at least 14 years ago when New Zealand started building a knowledge economy based on a neo-liberal worldview.
IN this paradigm, knowledge can be viewed as a commodity to be sold in the marketplace, a commodity which can potentially give comparative economic advantage to a country like New Zealand.
''The pursuit of knowledge becomes a search for information that is practical and useful, able to be turned into profit,'' Prof Zepke said.
Universities have been given increased economic autonomy so they can prosper in the global marketplace. But they also face increasing government control to ensure they perform their new purpose, he says.
Academic audits, performance-based funding, accreditation programmes, performance tables and governing councils with external members are among the control mechanisms he cites.
Research conducted by Prof Zepke suggests this view of knowledge may be firmly entrenched.
His survey of educational priorities revealed the majority of tertiary education teachers and students believed being able to apply knowledge in practice was a higher priority than learning to question what was taught.
Most of the students surveyed probably have never known any other way of thinking.
''By the time they enrolled ... the vocational focus on higher education was well-established,'' he said.
''They accept democracy and academic freedom as a distant given, but studying to gain useful knowledge for the marketplace is the priority.''
Prof Zepke has acknowledged the survey response rate was low.
But even if it provides only a rough guide, if the capacity for critical, independent thought is not highly valued, then it stands to reason that it will not be strongly cultivated.
And surely that must have a long-term negative effect on the ability to think outside the box and innovate.
''You can certainly assume the link,'' Prof Zepke said.
''However, I am always very cautious in turning an assumption into a causal link without strong evidence.''
It is an assumption China is already acting on in its drive to become a nation of world-class innovators.
Two months before New Zealand's draft Tertiary Education Strategy was announced, a senior Communist Party of China official pledged to create a favourable environment for individual talent.
Addressing top scientists, Liu Yunshan said the party was committed to building a Chinese society that honoured ''knowledge and creativity''.
That same month, an editorial in the Shanghai Airlines magazine expanded on the eminent cadre's theme.
Lamenting the technology gap between the Western world and the Orient, the editorialist said China needed to create an environment conducive to innovation.
''To groom people for innovation, we have to overhaul our education system and encourage independent thinking,'' the author urged.
It is a change that Dr Jin has already experienced, in New Zealand, and would hate to lose.
''In China my master's [degree] supervisor was kind of like a boss,'' he said.
''He offers the idea and we just produce the results, like a pipeline, an assembly line.''
It is an extremely efficient way to produce papers. And more papers lead to more funding.
''But everyone was burnt out, and we didn't find any interest in what we were researching.''
At Otago, Dr Jin's PhD research is being conducted in quite a different manner.
''Here, Greg [his supervisor] ... will offer some suggestions, but he never tells me what to do. He respects my ideas.
''I notice I am thinking more independently, because I have to think for myself.''