Vocational Education announcement a disaster for regional Aotearoa.

Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union describes today’s Vocational Education announcement as “a disaster for regional Aotearoa.”

In the post-cabinet media briefing, the Prime Minister and Minister Simmonds have said that ten polytechnics, mostly based in cities, will stand alone, while the rest, mostly based in the more rural regions, will be federated if they can’t attain “viability” before next year.

Te Pou Ahurei | National Secretary Sandra Grey says “taking a number of financially unstable institutions and putting them all together is not a recipe for stability and the only way the others have achieved standalone status is by slashing courses and jobs.”

“Vocational education is needed, more than anywhere else, in economically challenged rural communities. These are places that don’t have universities to go to, where unemployment is high, and yet where lots of industries are crying out for well trained workers. And these are the very regions of Aotearoa that are going to lose their campuses under this plan.”

“Online learning doesn’t work for everyone - even if you have the most up to date hardware and stable internet – which many people in the regions don’t have – and it’s particularly problematic for second chance learners.”

“This decision will compound inequalities for generations to come.”