Capable New Zealand, a school whose famous graduates include former All Black Sonny Bill Williams, will shed more than half of its staff under a proposal announced by the polytechnic yesterday.
Polytechnic executive director Dr Megan Pōtiki said Capable NZ enrolments had been steadily declining over the past four years.
"In 2020, enrolments were 511 equivalent fulltime students, but fell to 274 in 2024, a 51% decrease over that time.
"Otago Polytechnic is continuing its focus on good business practice as we work towards becoming a standalone institution once again.
"As part of this, we need to find a more sustainable way for Capable NZ to operate and address a lack of consistency of approach around strategy, leadership and operations."
The moves come in the middle of a tumultuous period for vocational education.
The minister responsible, Penny Simmonds, has announced the breaking up of mega-polytechnic Te Pūkenga - New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, but has yet to confirm which institutions will stand alone as individual polytechnics in the new structure.
Dr Pōtiki said it proposed to move each of the Capable NZ product offerings into the relevant college at Otago Polytechnic, matching options to existing areas and leadership structures and ensuring there was sufficient administrative support.
"We will also establish a new School of Professional Practice to support the current community of practice within the Capable NZ team, and to support its research activities and outputs.
"It’s important to emphasise these proposed changes will not include any cuts to existing programmes."
However, the present staffing of about 30 fulltime equivalents (FTEs) in the Capable NZ programmes was "not sustainable", Dr Pōtiki said.
"We are proposing to downsize this division by 19.8 FTEs. However, this includes some positions that are presently vacant."
Programmes include the New Zealand diploma in construction level 6 - construction management; bachelor of information technology; bachelor of applied management; bachelor of engineering technology; bachelor of social services; graduate diploma in professional practice; master of professional practice; and doctor of professional practice.
Staff would be offered continual support through the review process, she said.
