Councils back Unitec quest

One of the country's top-ranked polytechnics has won widespread support in its bid for graduation to university status.

Unitec has been battling since 1996 to become the country's ninth university, but has found its latest application blocked by proposed legislation giving the Government powers to veto the request without an assessment.

Now, the Auckland and Waitakere city councils have lent their weight to Unitec's campaign against the Education (Establishment of Universities) Amendment Bill.

In Auckland's submission, the council said it viewed the legislation with "concern and dismay".

"In short, Auckland City cannot support legislation that is retrospective in its application and provides a minister with sole and absolute decision-making authority regardless of whether the applied standards have been met," the submission said.

Unitec first applied for redesignation in 1996 and renewed its application in 1999, but it has never been processed.

The new legislation would give Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary) Steve Maharey the power to decide in advance whether an assessment could take place.

Waitakere citizens would be seriously disadvantaged if the bill was passed, said Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey.

Council and international research indicated that Unitec was expected to deliver significant economic, environmental and social benefits, he said.

Unitec is one of the largest tertiary institutions in the country, with about 5800 equivalent-fulltime students in its higher-education divisions - much larger than Lincoln University - and 4500 in its sub-degree division. It rated 12th of all tertiary institutes in the Performance-Based Research Fund rankings released this year.

But it is often seen as the poor cousin to universities and the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee supports the legislation, arguing the distinctive characteristics of universities need to be maintained to protect established standards and New Zealand's reputation.

Unitec chief executive Dr John Webster said he was heartened by the Auckland and Waitakere submissions. Representatives from Maori and Pacific Island communities had also backed Unitec's bid to be recognised as a university, he said.

A way out of the stand-off was to create a new category of university - a dual sector university of technology - which would allow Unitec to be established "with a clear dual-sector mission", he said.