Wananga offers to slash council as Government intervention looms

Trevor Mallard

The besieged council of Te Wananga o Aotearoa has voted to axe eight of its own members, including chief executive Rongo Wetere, in a bid to stave off Government intervention.

The council approved a motion - initially moved by Government appointee Wira Gardiner - to slash its number from 13 to five, at a special meeting on Tuesday. It is understood the move was proposed as a means of appeasing Education Minister Trevor Mallard who last week gave the council 21 days to detail why it should not be dissolved and a commissioner appointed.

Last month Mr Mallard said the wananga was on the brink of insolvency and required a $20 million Government bail-out. Senior wananga staff claimed the amount was over-stated and that the institute's financial position was in part manufactured by the Government.

It is understood Mr Gardiner, fellow Crown appointees Tania Hodges and council chairman Craig Coxhead are among the proposed new council. A confidant of Mr Wetere, Richard Batley, and Lloyd Anderson, a long-time council member and a wananga founder, complete the five.

The new council would, however, only take effect if Mr Mallard agreed to not appoint a commissioner.

A senior wananga source said the proposal was a blow to Mr Wetere, as the Government would have effective control with its appointees in the majority.

The members of the existing council had agreed to the proposal only because there was a sense of inevitability that the Government would take over. The inclusion of two non-government members would allow at least some input on governance decisions.

Education Ministry chief executive Howard Fancy, Tertiary Education Commission chairman Russell Marshall and acting New Zealand Qualifications Authority chief executive Karen Sewell were also present at the meeting.

It is understood they reiterated Mr Mallard's push that the wananga refocus on educating Maori, and reduce Pakeha enrolments.

At present just over 50 per cent of the wananga's students are Pakeha.

Mr Mallard last week said it would be difficult for the wananga to continue at its current scale - about 22,000 full-time students. It might be more appropriate for it to focus on working with Maori who had not had success in the education system.

Mr Coxhead confirmed yesterday that a proposal to reduce council numbers had been approved at Tuesday's meeting.

He said the council had said in March that a review of the governance and management structures would be carried out.

"We indicated this to the minister, and are implementing it now."

He said details of the management changes were close to being finalised.