Maharey turns up heat over Cool-IT

The Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) has failed to account for some public funding and will have to pay it back "immediately", said Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey.

CPIT received $15 million in Government funding for its Cool-IT computer course. It enrolled 18,000 people but only 603 completed the programme.

The polytech has already said it will pay back $83,000 of the money it used to lure students into Cool-IT.

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) was investigating the situation but CPIT had failed to reassure it and Mr Maharey anticipated "action in the immediate future".

"Public money must be accounted for properly. That means that there needs to be an assurance that the enrolments for CPIT that were funded were funded properly and accounted for properly," he said in Parliament yesterday.

"To the extent that they are not, there is an obligation for that money to come back, and I am going to ensure that that is the course of action that takes place immediately."

Mr Maharey did not specify how big a sum he was talking about.

Organisations such as CPIT were autonomous and had to be given the chance to show they were responsible with public money, he said.

"This organisation has failed. The waiting is over," he said.

Asked by National MP Bill English for an assurance the $15 million would be repaid, Mr Maharey said: "This is an ethical matter. Public money is involved and I will ensure it is evaluated and accounted for."

TEC general manager Ann Clark said it had appointed an evaluator to look at the situation.

"The costs of the evaluation would be passed on to CPIT as it remains responsible for demonstrating that learner engagement took place," Ms Clark said in a statement.

Until the situation was evaluated, TEC would withhold $4.9 million, which is funding for half of a group of 13,298 students who enrolled in the course but did not go online.

The Auditor-General last week investigated former Christchurch mayor Vicki Buck's involvement in the course and found CPIT allowed her to be put in a position where she could use her employer's time, resources and position to enhance her private company.

Ms Buck is CPIT's development manager and a shareholder in Brylton Software (BSL), which provided Cool-IT with software.

BSL's involvement brought it $6 million during three months.

Auditor-General Kevin Brady found no evidence Ms Buck acted to misuse her position but that she did have a conflict of interest as the relationship progressed.

- NZPA