Well-managed polytechs – such as Ara Institute of Canterbury – are being punished by the decision to make all 16 slash their budgets, says National.
Te Pūkenga, which runs the country’s institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs), is facing a forecasted $110 million deficit and acting chief executive Peter Winder said each of the tertiary providers would be required to make cuts.
“In order to get back to the budget position, they need to achieve around a 3% saving – that’s not insignificant, given that we’re halfway through the year,” he told MPs during an Education and Workforce Committee review on Tuesday.
“However, all of them are carrying a significant number of vacancies at the moment and those savings have not previously been reflected in the forecasts, so the starting point is that.
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“We are working with each of them as to how they can make further savings that would do the least harm to our ability to deliver.”
The 3% cuts meant well-managed polytechs were being penalised, said National’s tertiary education spokesperson Penny Simmonds, who was formerly the chief executive of Southern Institute of Technology (SIT).
“All subsidiary ITPs are being asked for a 3% reduction in expenditure but Te Pūkenga has yet to come up with a detailed plan to address the … issues for the most financially challenged ITPs, a matter of concern from the Auditor General’s office,” she told Stuff.
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
Penny Simmonds is the MP for Invercargill and former chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology.
“They are in fact punishing those who may have been operating effectively and efficiently, like Ara, by a blanket, across the board requirement, rather than targeting those who maybe overstaffed and not operating efficiently.”
Winder took up the role of acting chief executive after Te Pūkenga chief executive Stephen Town requested personal leave in July. It is not known if he will return this year.
Te Pūkenga is cutting $8m from its head Hamilton office costs and Winder said “from memory” the headquarters’ budget was about $21m.
Tom Lee/Stuff
Te Pūkenga chief executive Stephen Town has been granted personal leave.
Job losses “would be our least favoured option” to make savings, he said, but “back office and support services” will be integrated “across the network”.
“There will be significant savings that come from that.”
He hinted that courses could be axed, saying “there are a significant number of programmes that are not really viable”.
“The core to looking at financial sustainability will be to address the mix of provision and in particular how we move from very substantial face-to-face engagement to far more in-work learning.”
Ara Institute of Canterbury was approached for comment.
