The government has signalled a crackdown on tertiary educators who are pushing up non-academic fees.

In a speech at Victoria University today, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said students had written to him complaining about steep fee hikes for use of things like libraries and buildings.

Mr Joyce told the audience he would be writing to universities and polytechnics asking why the increases were necessary.

"I am going to start with have a good conversation with them about what they are for," he later told reporters.

Lecturing staff at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) will begin strike action this week to protest increased workload; a sign of what could be in store for the rest of the tertiary sector.

An “overwhelming majority” of TEU members at MIT voted in favour of the strike action, the Tertiary Education Union reported today.

The biggest complaint stems from a round of redundancies among general administrative staff in 2008, which the union says led to many administrative tasks being allocated to academics.

Investing in an advanced national research and education network will deliver at least $4 of economic benefits for every tax dollar spent by 2015, a recent study suggests.

The study, undertaken by high-end investment consultancy Temple: Capital Investment Specialists, assessed the value of REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand) to the New Zealand economy.