Institute head snaps back at MPs over enrolments

The integrity of New Zealand First MPs Ron Mark and Edwin Perry should be in question, not that of the Eastern Institute of Technology, says institute chief executive Bruce Martin.

NZ First is demanding that the institute, which is now having its student enrolments audited, should pay back any money it has been overpaid for "fictitious" students.

Mr Martin said the institute did not have fictitious students.

It had enrolled Mr Mark and Mr Perry in "good faith" in its free community Maori radio "sing-along" and language courses.

The courses have come under scrutiny since it was revealed last week that the institute received $5.1 million of taxpayer money to run them last year.

The work of students undertaking community courses is not assessed and they do not receive a qualification.

Mr Martin questioned why the MPs had not done the courses, given that they were supplied with the necessary material when they were signed up by a recruiter at a Rotorua burger bar eight months ago.

The forms the MPs signed made it clear that only people committed to completing the course should enrol.

He wondered whether the MPs were "so incompetent" they could not follow instructions.

"If these two people did not intend to do the course then I would suggest the issue of integrity sits with them, not EIT," Mr Martin said.

Mr Mark said the MPs were given a plastic bag containing two handbooks and "some other correspondence" by the recruiter.

- NZPA