Longterm plan for Telford vital: union

THE Tertiary Education Union says government ministers must ensure a longterm plan is put in place to guarantee quality training opportunities before signing off on a possible takeover of Lincoln University’s Telford campus.

An agreement between Lincoln, Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre and the Telford Farm board of management has been put forward to government agencies for ministerial approval.

The proposal included the provision for the transfer of operations at Telford from Lincoln to Taratahi, after support was pulled from the Telford campus by Lincoln last year.

A ministerial decision on the proposed takeover was anticipated sometime in July.

Tertiary Education Union national president Sandra Grey said before ministers approved the agreement, they must ‘‘back it up’’ with a properly funded plan which guaranteed locally-focused training opportunities for students.

The union believed a longterm plan needed to be put in place to ensure continued provision of training opportunities in the region.

Dr Grey claimed the Government’s history of failing to adequately fund regional tertiary education provision gave the union cause for concern.

Taratahi posted a loss of close to $400,000 last year, which highlighted the importance of ensuring a properly funded plan was in place.

Before a decision was made, Dr Grey also said ministers needed to be mindful that the learning environment at Telford would only ever be as a good as the staff working environment.

‘‘Keeping the collective agreement Telford staff are currently employed under is therefore a priority.’’

She expected all new staff to be covered by the collective agreement and future settlements between staff and the new management would not erode these terms.

In a statement on Monday, Lincoln chief commercial officer Phillip O’Callaghan said it was expected staff at Telford would be offered positions with Taratahi on their existing terms and benefits under the proposal.

Associate minister for tertiary education, skills and employment Louise Upston was approached for comment as one of the ministers involved in the decision on the business proposal.

She did not respond to specific questions regarding Dr Grey’s comments or any longterm plans the Government might have for funding rural education providers.

A spokeswoman for Ms Upston said the minister had yet to consider the business case.

samuel.white@odt.co.nz