NorthTec Kerikeri opens
NorthTec’s mothballed Kerikeri campus has reopened as a partnership between the Whanga¯reibased education provider and local hapu¯ Nga¯ti Rehia.
When the campus closed in 2017 with the loss of seven teaching jobs, it had a falling roll and NorthTec was facing a $4.5 million deficit.
Yesterday’s relaunch marked a fresh start for NorthTec in the growing Bay of Islands town.
Te Ru¯nanga o Nga¯ti Rehia has been contracted to look after administration of what is expected to develop into an educational hub used by a number of providers, and will shift its offices there from its premises on Homestead Rd.
NorthTec will offer foundationlevel courses in nursing and social services from the start of 2019, but other providers are to start courses sooner. Taratahi, a Masterton agricultural training institute, will start a beekeeping course this weekend.
The administration block has been leased to Heritage New Zealand, whose seven Northland staff moved in last week.
Nga¯ti Rehia trustee Nora Rameka told yesterday’s gathering the partnership was the realisation of the “moemoea¯ [dream] of our elders”.
The hapu¯ had tried to buy the then vacant land at the corner of Kerikeri Rd and Hone Heke Rd about 20 years ago for education purposes. They didn’t have the money so they contacted what was then Northland Polytechnic, which bought the land and set up the campus.
Ru¯nanga chairman Kipa Munro said the hapu¯ wanted to bring tikanga onto the site, for example by starting each day with karakia or waiata. The site had been renamed Te Pou o Manako, which he translated as “the symbol of hope”.
NorthTec development director Phil Alexander-Crawford said the reopening was part of the Te Taitokerau Regional Investment Plan, a Northland-wide imitative to bring all tertiary education providers together.
Nga¯ti Rehia would be the site kaitiaki (guardian) and would help drive student recruitment.
“We see it as a new model and an example of how a Treaty-based partnership can work. It will mean changes in the way we work and we welcome those changes.”
Yesterday’s relaunch was attended by NorthTec bosses, funding body the Tertiary Education Commission, Nga¯ti Rehia, Kerikeri High School, and other organisations such as the Department of Conservation and Heritage NZ. Children from the Bay of Islands International Academy at Te Tii provided the welcome.