Tertiary Update Vol 16 No 11 Data from the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) shows the government has made almost a direct transfer of $25 million from publicly owned polytechnics to privately-owned tertiary education providers (PTEs). Government funding for polytechnics fell from last year to this year by $29 million dollars, or 4.7 percent.  Meanwhile funding [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 16 No 7 Staff at the Nelson and Marlborough campuses of NMIT stopped work yesterday and voted by a large majority to take industrial action to oppose the employer’s proposals to pay them bonuses. In Nelson, a banner competition followed the stop work meeting. Union members walked out into the main green [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 16 No 6 Union members at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) will hold a stopwork meeting next Wednesday to consider whether to take industrial action or not. The polytechnic and its staff who are TEU members are currently in negotiations over their employment agreement. The union members want a two [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 16 No 1 For the last two years, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) has linked a significant portion of its pay offer it has made to academics to the institute’s success in achieving surpluses and other productivity achievements. However, TEU members are preparing to end this practice at this year’s employment [...]

Tertiary Update Vol 15 No 41 TEU members are holding protests and meetings at polytechnics around the country today to convince the government to put more money into foundation studies education at polytechnics. The protests coincide with media coverage (from Auckland’s New Zealand Herald to Dunedin’s Otago Daily Times) of the millions of dollars the government has [...]

Following UCOL’s announcements of massive course closures and staff cuts as a result of government funding cuts, other polytechnics are now also announcing course closures and staff cuts. The Nelson Mail reported that Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology has lost about 100 full-time student places, or about $600,000 of funding. “We are looking at what our options [...]

Many staff at NMIT are worried about how safe two new mobile phone towers on their Nelson campus are. Telecom has built a mobile phone tower on top of A Block, via a contract with NMIT, and 2 Degrees installed a tower in May on the public pavement outside L Block on Alton Street. The [...]

Tertiary education minister Steven Joyce has encouraged CPIT to look at options for developing a network of South Island Polytechnics. The CPIT Council notice of meeting for June notes the minister “encourages CPIT to explore options for creating a stronger South Island ITP [institutes of technology and polytechnics] network asking that the Minister’s office be [...]

Data from the Tertiary Education Commission shows that government funding for metropolitan based polytechnics has fallen by 1 percent between 2010 and 2011, but it fell by a massive 11 percent, or $32 million, for regional polytechnics over the same period. With the exception of Eastern Institute of Technology, which merged with Tairāwhiti Polytechnic last [...]

Minister for tertiary education, skills and employment, Steven Joyce, has continued to appoint people to multiple polytechnic councils. Malcolm Inglis, who is the current deputy chair of UCOL council will now also take on the role of deputy chair of the WITT council for a four year term. Malcolm Inglis is a management consultant providing [...]