South Island teacher colleges to merge with varsities

Two South Island teachers' colleges are to merge with their local universities next year, Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen announced today.

Dunedin College of Education will become part of Otago University and Christchurch College of Education will merge with the University of Canterbury.

Some jobs will be lost as a result of the merger, but the universities said it was too early to say how many.

In a joint statement Otago University and the Dunedin College of Education said: "As previously indicated, the merger will result in some reduction in the number of general and academic staff positions at the time of merger, with further adjustments to academic staffing following as a range of new, combined academic programmes commences.

"Given recent enrolment trends in teacher education, it is likely that adjustments would have been required, even without a merger."

Dr Cullen said: "The decision follows six weeks of public consultation on each of the mergers and will take effect from January 1 2007.

"The Education Act requires that there are good reasons behind merging two institutions and must be in the interest of the tertiary education system and the country as a whole. I believe that both mergers meet these criteria."

Dr Cullen said the mergers, happening under a process which began 18 months ago, would mean teacher training would get greater resourcing and consistency.

Some concerns were raised during consultation but Dr Cullen said he was confident they had been answered or solved by the institutions.

The government would provide $14.5 million to cover transition costs for the institutions.

Benefits Dr Cullen believed would come out of the mergers were:

* Enhanced capability of colleges and universities to meet national education priorities.

* Stronger teacher education research to underpin and support educational policy and development.

* New partnerships between people involved in professional practice, training and research.

* Consistent teacher education.

Dr Cullen said: "The mergers reinforce what we are trying to achieve with the current tertiary education reforms.

"We want a more efficient and effective tertiary system focusing on quality that will ensure better results for students, employers and the community at large."

The latest mergers follow other teacher's colleges merging with universities around the country.

- NZPA