Polytech crisis plan in Budget, says Maharey

By HELEN TUNNAH

The Government will unveil in next week's Budget how it will avert a funding crisis at polytechnics expected to lose tens of millions of dollars in a clampdown on courses branded as worthless.

Associate Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey told Parliament yesterday that the rules for running adult education courses were being rewritten.

The Government has been forced to cap funding for tertiary institutions that have enrolled tens of thousands of students in courses such as hobby woodwork, twilight golf and te reo by radio.

The Herald reported this month a package to avert the collapse of institutions that will suddenly lose millions of dollars was being negotiated between polytechnics and the Government. Some of the institutions were struggling financially before the funding windfall. The institutions include Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology which last year claimed to have more than 96,000 community education enrolments, mainly on computer courses, and Tairawhiti Polytechnic at Gisborne which reported 47,410 mainly language enrolments last year.

A year earlier Tairawhiti had just 2785 enrolments on community education courses.

Its enrolments are being audited.

National Party education spokesman Bill English has attacked the state-funded institutions for claiming large numbers of students for low-quality courses which cost the taxpayer significant sums of money.

In Parliament this month he said Christchurch Polytechnic had even recruited students from as far away as Bay of Islands College, in Northland.

Community education courses are supposed to provide further learning for adult or part-time students.

However, in recent years enrolments have soared, providing a useful source of income for some institutions.

Tertiary institutions have offered courses with no qualifications, no assessments and no attendance requirements.

Mr English says the payments for courses are often significantly higher than the costs of offering them.

One institution, the Eastern Institute of Technology at Hastings, even enrolled two New Zealand First MPs.

Mr Maharey told Parliament yesterday that whether certain courses were good value for money would be assessed from next year by the Tertiary Education Commission.

- additional reporting NZPA