The Gisborne Herald reported over Easter that Tairāwhiti Polytechnic has announced a “collaboration” with Eastern Institute of Technology and it was possible that the two institutions could merge. The Herald said that the collaboration was being driven by funding cuts to the sector.

Tairāwhiti Polytechnic council chairman Geoff Milner told the Herald that funding cuts “in the millions” were expected next year.

“Given such substantial reduction in funding, the view of our future viability is not good. The council has, therefore, taken the proactive step of looking for a preferred partner organisation… to save money and actually improve service.”

The two institutions would spend the next three-to-four months discussing the various options available, he said. Final decisions would be announced in the next year or two, which could be anything from “status quo to a potential merger and everything in between”.

It was 50 percent likely the institutions would fully merge, Mr Milner said. The council explored UCOL, Wintec and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa as options, but settled on EIT.

EIT chief executive Chris Collins said discussions were still in the earlier stages.

“We really just need to establish what the options are. EIT is a very strong and stable institution. We are rated as very low risk.”

This did not mean EIT was bailing Tairāwhiti out of a troubled financial situation, he said. “There are some things we bring, but likewise there are things Tairāwhiti can bring to the table.”

Neither institution would confirm nor deny the likelihood of job losses if a merger was chosen. “We don’t know what the outcome will be,” said Mr Collins.