Otago Polytechnic executive director Megan Pōtiki said the redesign of the vocational education and training system posed a serious risk to the region’s polytechnic, and she believed the facility and the Otago community would be best served with Otago Polytechnic becoming "a stand-alone entity" again.
The Ministry of Education has begun a six-week public consultation period on the proposed redesign.
Within the consultation, institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) are proposed to either become independent and autonomous, or become part of a federation model in which the ITPs report to, and are supported by, Open Polytechnic.
This support may include Open Polytechnic taking over academic and financial back office functions.
The consultation document says financially viable ITPs would become "independent and stand-alone" with help from Te Pūkenga from January 1, 2025, and then would legally stand alone from January 1, 2026.
A federation of ITPs for those that were not financially viable would be anchored to Open Polytechnic, which would provide programmes and services dependent on the needs of each ITP.
ITPs within the federated model would still have some decision-making powers, and over time, polytechnics may leave or join the federated model, depending on their financial situation.
The document also outlined changes to the funding system.
It proposes restoring funding rates to what would have been student achievement component funding, by stopping the strategic component fund and increasing provided funding by 10% in 2025.
There was also a proposal to establish funding arrangements for ITPs to engage with regional industries and international education.
"As a stand-alone entity, Otago Polytechnic will be best placed to be locally responsive, make decisions informed by our stakeholders and create meaningful educational outcomes for our learners.
"In the current consultation, no single polytechnic has been singled out to be in the federation or as a stand-alone ITP.
"We don’t know where we stand yet, so we’re making a concerted effort to work with stakeholders.
"Recently, we’ve been talking to the Dunedin City Council and seeking their public support and endorsement for us to stand alone."
Tertiary Education Union assistant national secretary Daniel Benson-Guiu said union members had become tired and frustrated by the constant change to the system in recent years.
"There’s so much work gone into Te Pūkenga, and members across Otago Polytechnic and SIT have seen everything change before them as we’ve moved into a new system that is meant to be for the good of all New Zealanders.
"Now it appears that we’re winding the clock back again.
"The concern that has come through from staff members across the country over the past week and a-half is they’re tired — tired of yet another change in the sector."
There were also concerns about the federation model.
"A federation system, where polytechnics enter or leave depending on their financial success, is effectively promoting a relegation or promotion system, and that really creates uncertainty for staff in their institutions, in terms of what level of autonomy they have for their own decision-making."
The union had also been asking Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds for greater clarity about which institutions would be stand-alone and which would be part of the federation model, but it had not received an answer, he said.
"It’s pretty critical when it comes to staff being part of the consultation, because they don’t have the full details of the proposal.
"Those details may change the way they respond."
