Another knee-jerk reaction from Maharey

When it comes to tertiary education, Labour’s policy is driven more by media reports and Opposition attacks than by any coherent strategy of their own, says National’s Education spokesman, Bill English.

“The Tertiary Education Commission has quietly announced a review of community education at five polytechs, as suggested by me several weeks ago.”

Manukau Institute of Technology, the Eastern Institute of Technology, Tairawhiti Polytechnic, the Universal College of Learning, and Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology are all subject to a review of EFTS funding for community education courses.

This comes at the same time as another TEC announcement that the Open Polytechic can breach the growth cap for its Life Works course.

“So on the one hand we have a Minister cracking down on polytechs which break the rules, and on the other he’s telling another polytech that it’s okay if they break the rules,” says Mr English.

“In the meantime, he has punished almost every polytech with funding cuts because some of them bent the rules.

“How can anyone take TEC seriously when it and its Minister lack the teeth to make any real decisions until it’s far too late?

“There is a real danger that polytechs, acting on mixed messages from Steve Maharey and the shambolic TEC, will cop the blame for an incoherent policy,” says Mr English.

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