Polytech merger ‘ludicrous’, says entrepreneur

BARELY a week after winning the 2019 New Zealand Innovator of the Year Award, Dunedin entrepreneur Ian Taylor has labelled the Government’s proposals to merge all of the country’s institutes of technology into one national tertiary organisation as ‘‘ludicrous’’.

Speaking after a presentation to local business people in Invercargill, Mr Taylor said the Government’s idea was flawed.

‘‘This isn’t just about us. It isn’t about us not wanting to help, but any idea that shifting control to a bureaucracy in Wellington will improve things has just been proven wrong time and time again.

‘‘The Otago Polytechnic, here in Southland (the Southern Institute of Technology), they’re models that should be replicated, not models that should be taken over and handed over to somebody in Wellington to run. I just think it’s ludicrous.’’

Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced last week the Government planned to merge the country’s 16 polytechnics into one entity, provisionally called the New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology.

Under the proposal, the new body would manage capital and operational budgets, staffing, and learning management systems for all polytechnics.

The proposal has not been well received in the South.

The chief executives of both Otago Polytechnic and the Southern Institute of Technology have questioned the wisdom of the move.

In Invercargill, business leaders and political figures have also come out against the plan.

The president of the Southland Chamber of Commerce, Neil McAra, described the proposal as ‘‘a major travesty’’.

He did not believe the Government had listened to the input from Southland and said it would not be able to run a national institution as successfully as the Southern Institute of Technology.

Former chamber president Carla Forbes also criticised the plan.

‘‘This proposal not only spells the end of the highly successful and popular Southern Institute of Technology but will lead to the severe decline of the Southland region.

‘‘I am deeply concerned.

‘‘To be honest, I’m angry that in the face of decades of underinvestment in the regions, especially Southland, we now have a proposal on our hands that threatens one of the largest economic drivers in Southland.’’