“Labour’s costly attempts at centralisation have not worked. The Government should get the centralised bureaucracy away from polytechnics and let them focus on what the community needs,” says ACT’s Education spokesperson Chris Baillie.

“Te Pukenga, their centralisation of the polytechnics, is facing a large deficit and has led to funding cuts for institutions. The entire concept of it misses the point of what makes many polytechnics successful, engagement with the local community and preparing people in areas that have the greatest employment outcomes for their area.

“ACT says a better idea than centralising the polytechnics is to go the other direction and privatise them. We previously had a mixed sector where private training establishments competed with polytechnics. The difference was that the government sector lurched from one crisis to another, being periodically bailed out by the taxpayer, while the private sector stood on its own two feet.

"Students and taxpayers alike would be better off if the Government completely privatised polytechnics and institutes of technology. Private owners would have a much better incentive to make them effective and profitable than the even larger and more remote bureaucracy Labour has created.”

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