NMIT confident it will be viable
Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) says it is consulting staff on a “change proposal” to cut costs, as the government forges ahead with plans to de-merge the sector.
NMIT said it was confident cost-cutting and planning measures would make it financially viable, on the back of a report that only two polytechnics in the country are.
A document from Te Pūkenga came to light last week which stated just Ara Institute in Christchurch and the online school, Open Polytech, were deemed viable – sparking calls for clarity about whether campuses could close.
NMIT and Wintec were excluded from the ministerial briefing dated June 18.
That was due to “optimism in the NMIT and Wintec international growth assumptions and the gap to viability in the FY2026”, it said.
Polytechnics which can’t show a clear pathway to financial sustainability are due to be grouped together in a federation supported by the Open Polytechnic, under the government’s plan for disestablishing Te Pūkenga – the body set up by the previous government to oversee the country’s 16 polytechs and industry training organisations.
The strongest polytechs would be re-established as standalone entities under the de-merger proposal, with final policy decisions expected next month.
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The Tertiary Education Union said last week many of the polytechs had already started cutting costs, with courses being axed, and assets sold.
Assistant national secretary Dan Benson Guiu called on Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, to clarify whether the Government planned to close any campuses.
Simmonds said the report was out of date, and a “generalised overview” that served as a catalyst for the substantive information gathering that had followed – the results of which she was looking to have back before Christmas.
On a visit to Nelson on Tuesday, Simmonds remained tight-lipped about NMIT’s status under the de-merger, but said NMIT was “making the right moves to get themselves in a good position”.
“I don’t see NMIT facing closure at all.”
NMIT was a main provider in a regional centre that really needed tertiary provision, Simmonds said.
“I think NMIT has historically been in a really good place, and I believe that it will be in the future. And they are doing all the right work to get themselves well prepared.”
In a written response to the Nelson Mail, NMIT executive director Olivia Hall said NMIT was in deficit before Te Pūkenga began, with Covid-19 then affecting enrolments.
The institute had run at a deficit every year in the last eight years, except 2020, but NMIT was confident its “cost-saving work and future-focussed planning” would allow it to achieve financial viability, she said.
When pressed about cost-saving measures, Hall said NMIT was in consultation with staff on “a change proposal”, which supported the government’s intention to create a network of regionally autonomous polytechnics.
“The proposal lays out a number of options for changes to some of our teams.
“We are also examining our budgets to find efficiencies in our use of resources such as buildings. We also annually review our programme provision to ensure we’re providing programmes that learners need and want to study.”
NMIT was also looking at ways to increase revenue, including promotion of existing and new programmes to increase enrolments, she said.
NMIT still had just over $9m in cash reserves that were ringfenced before the Te Pūkenga merger. But that money currently sat with Te Pūkenga, as NMIT was legally part of the national organisation until it was officially disestablished, Hall said.
By Warren Gamble, Nelson Mail
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