Southland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sheree Carey said the merging of the institution into a single national entity would be a disaster for Southland.
She said 95% of the chamber's approximately 380 members were opposed to plans to merge the country's 16 polytechnics and institutes of technology into one institution.
According to the chamber's submission to the Ministry of Education, the economic impact of SIT on the economy of Invercargill in 2014 was estimated at $43.4million in GDP (gross domestic product) and the employment of approximately 710 fulltime employees.
Expanded to the Southland regional economy, the total impact was an estimated at $45.7million in GDP and the employment of approximately 740 fulltime employees.
"SIT equips people with the knowledge and skills to be effective industry participants, and the broader benefits achieved through its integration with the business and wider community make it a cornerstone of our regional wellbeing," she said.
The chamber was happy with the proposed introduction of industry skills bodies, "particularly with an envisaged leadership role from us as employers".
The chamber said in its submission it accepted the importance of having a New Zealand standard for each industry, but that "actual delivery of vocational education, the demand for skills and training at different regions cannot be determined at a national level".
