The comments by Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker came a day after the Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre, the national provider running courses at Telford and other on-farm campuses, was placed in interim liquidation.
The move was blamed on an inability to cut costs sufficiently as student numbers and funding declined, prompting criticisms of the funding model.
Telford Farm Board chairman Richard Farquhar said he had spent the past two days talking to possible providers about a takeover of Telford courses.
The board owned the Telford site and many of its buildings, but leased its operation to Taratahi, as a private training entity, to provide courses, he said.
The board itself remained profitable, and enrolments for next year were already up on this year, although students did not pay money for fees or accommodation until courses began.
The aim was still to have a new provider in place by February, when students were due to arrive for the start of courses, he said.
Asked how likely that was, he said it was too soon to speculate but he was in contact with ''a couple of providers''.
''At this stage we've only had two days to sort this out.''
Mr Ker, contacted yesterday, said he had not yet been contacted by the Telford board, but was prepared to help if he could.
Otago Polytechnic would ''certainly welcome'' any Taratahi students into its programmes, and could ''put our hand up'' to take Taratahi's place as the sole provider of some national programmes, he said.
A takeover of Telford could also be considered, beginning with ''due diligence on that as an option'', he said.
But the polytechnic would not be in a position to do anything between now and February.
It would not rush into anything with high overheads without being reasonably certain of good student enrolments.
''Our stance is, if we can help out, and it doesn't compromise our own operations, then we will do so.''
Mr Ker also said the funding model based on a fixed amount per student, needed to be rectified.
A provider received the same funding per student, whether it ran programmes on the West Coast - with its geographical spread and dispersed population - or Christchurch.
Otago Polytechnic remained ''financially sound'', but still had to cross-subsidise its Cromwell campus. Institutions without that ability were going to the wall.
The funding model was ''as broken as it can be''.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has already said the current funding model was ''broken'', but Mr Ker said a more flexible approach was needed.
That should involve a base grant for operations, topped up by population-based funding that reflected other issues, such as the socioeconomic status and population dispersal.
The Government also needed to decide if it wanted the ''significant infrastructure'' of a bricks-and-mortar tertiary provider in every part of New Zealand, or greater use of online alternatives.
