At tomorrow’s Dunedin City Council meeting, councillors will discuss a proposed submission to the Ministry of Education putting forward the case for Otago Polytechnic to become a stand-alone entity under the proposed disestablishing of mega-polytechnic Te Pukenga.
Te Pukenga brought together the country’s 16 polytechnics and nine industry training organisations, but Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds wants to create a new model where the financially strongest polytechnics can stand on their own, and the rest become part of a federation model overseen by the Open Polytechnic.
The council’s submission said it recognised the valuable role that Otago Polytechnic has in Ōtepoti Dunedin as an educator, employer and flagship organisation in the community "which contributes much to the economy, social wellbeing and cultural life of our city" .
"The council believes that Otago Polytechnic can demonstrate a ‘robust pathway’ to financial and educational sustainability", the submission said.
Former Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker said while it was good the council was supporting the polytechnic’s bid, he was not necessarily optimistic about its success.
"There’s been some interesting messaging that’s come out from the Tertiary Education Commission recently.
"They’re still basically saying the determining factor is financial viability.
"Otago is currently not meeting this viability."
Mr Ker said this was largely due to the funding model, and everyone needed to wait to see what changes would come into effect under the new system.
"You can have all the support in the world, but if it’s not financially viable under the rules of the game, then it’s going to be hard to get beyond that.
"But the rules aren’t exactly lining up — polytechnics aren’t presently funded in a way that suits them working as individual entities.
"It’s like asking an elephant to race a cat up a tree."
Briefing papers provided to councillors said Otago Polytechnic had contributed almost $1 billion to the economy in Dunedin since 2017; while there were 8000 students enrolled.
The papers also noted while other education institutions in Dunedin had returned to about 60% of pre-Covid numbers for international students, this was not the case for Otago Polytechnic.
"It was noted that this may be attributed to the shift to marketing to international students being undertaken by Te Pūkenga at a national level, rather than at a local level which promotes the unique features of Otago Polytechnic and the city", the papers said.
The consultation document said financially viable polytechnics 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.
Last week, 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 council’s submission echoed this view, saying a federation model posed a risk to Otago Polytechnic’s ability to be agile and responsive, and to make decisions at a local level.
Consultation on the proposed changes closes on September 12.
